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TEXT ON SCREEN:
Tim’s Story
Supporting a Loved One with Myelofibrosis

TIM:
My name is Tim. I’m a husband, I’m a father, and I’m a caregiver for Monica, who has myelofibrosis.

TEXT ON SCREEN:
Tim
Myelofibrosis (MF) caregiver

Myelofibrosis is a blood cancer characterized by the buildup of scar tissue in the bone marrow, which interferes with the production of healthy blood cells.

TIM:
My initial reaction when Monica was first diagnosed was - It wasn’t much, I didn’t understand what it was. It was a blood disease. There was nothing apparently wrong with her. You know, we were still living our lives and having a great time so it didn’t really set in until later that we had subsequent tests. And at that point it, it was myelofibrosis.

I wasn’t a professional, I wasn’t a nurse. I’m a construction worker. So I had to sort of pick everything up on my own.

It was a learning experience.

What caregiving meant was that I had to help with most all aspects of her life. From managing the medications, assisting with daily activities, including bathing.

I would take my notebook to every doctor’s appointment.

You may think that the doctors and nurses take offense to you taking so many notes, what I found was that they were encouraged that I was interested enough in taking the time and noting everything down. It helps so much. You leave the doctor’s office, I know even for myself, when I go, by the time I get home I can’t remember what they told me to do for myself, but I remember when I write it down for, you know, for Monica.

What were we supposed to do? What about the medication? I just checked my journal and it’s all right there.

So I strongly recommend, especially when you’re in the heat of battle, that you keep a journal and you write everything down.

Once you become a caregiver, it never really ends. The intensity will come and go and hopefully you can get to the point where it levels off at the end.

But through it all, you just have to remain committed, think about what you did yesterday and what would happen if nobody was there to do that. That’s why you need to be there. You got to show up and be there every day. It’s not a sprint it’s a constant marathon. You’ll go slower uphills, you’ll go faster downhills, but you have to realize that you’re going to be in for the long haul.

It was my baby doll, I just had to do whatever I had to do. Our love for each other has never waned, it’s only gotten stronger.

You can explore educational tools, resources, stories to help navigate all aspects of myelofibrosis at MappingMF.com

TEXT ON SCREEN:
Mapping Myelofibrosis
Explore MappingMF.com for more information.

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NPUS-AOUCOCO260011 July 2026
Produced in USA.