For me as a researcher, this year's American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting was the "Perfect Game." 

The last perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) was on August 15, 2012 by Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners. When Felix threw his 92 mph fastball to strike out the last batter to ensure his perfect game, he threw his arms up in elation, seconds later he was surrounded by his teammates as they all celebrated together. 

A perfect game is where a pitcher completes a game without the other team reaching first base. This requires super-human effort from the entire team. A perfect game is rare, in fact, only 23 perfect games have happened in MLB’s 235,500 total games (since 1876). In other words, 1 in every 10,239 games have been a perfect one.

This year at the 64th ASH Annual meeting, the HealthTree Foundation had 4 poster abstracts. Two of those posters were presented by me, Nathan Sweeney, and the other two were presented by myeloma specialists, Drs. Jens Hillengass and Sikander Ailawadhi.

I’ve been to a number of conferences and presented a number of poster abstracts, but this year something unique happened. There were 6,432 abstracts presented over 52 sessions at ASH this year, so the chance that I would present my poster abstracts with the Myeloma Heroes I spoke about in my ASH 2021 article was rare, in fact, there was a 1 in 10,000 chance (approximately). 

So, not only do I suggest meeting your heroes but if the opportunity should arise, you should definitely work with your heroes because who knows you may even get to present with them and with odds like that it would make for a "perfect ASH." 

Poster Abstracts:

HealthTree for Multiple Myeloma

Title: A Retrospective Comparison of the Side Effect Prevalence and Severity of Multiple Myeloma Triplet Vs Quadruplet Induction Therapy

Title: The Top Concerns at and Since Diagnosis: Standard v. High Risk Myeloma Patients

Dr. Hillengass

Title: Physical Activity in Patients with Monoclonal Gammopathies – a Healthtree Cure Hub Study

Dr. Ailawadhi

Title: Understanding Patient Perspective, Challenges, Behavioral Patterns, and Preferences Towards Participation in Multiple Myeloma