Myeloma Institute draws dollars to Little Rock (UALR Public Radio) - With its beige paint, the Markham House Suites in midtown Little Rock looks from the outside like just another old motel. Inside, its lobby gleams. And on the front desk, a sign advises that a UAMS nurse will be by daily at eight a.m. to draw blood for myeloma patients. Manager Steve Duffel estimates about eighty-five percent of his rooms are rented to people with multiple myeloma.

"This is not like just being in hotel business, it's almost like being in mission business, because we help these people along with their journey."

This is one of two hotels that cater especially to the patients who come to the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy. Duffel has a free shuttle service for patients to run errands. He can even show them how to clean their I.V. sites. Duffel says he rents long-term suites to guests from Saudi Arabia, Germany, Canada, and Greece.

Fernando Hafner Temboury comes to Little Rock from Spain to help his wife with her cancer treatment. He thinks local businesses owe a lot to the Institute and its founder.

"You go to restaurant and they say where are you from - from Spain. Oh, you're visiting.' No, unfortunately we're here for treatment. Oh, Dr. Barlogie?' Immediately. It doesn't matter if this is in Dillard's, in a shop, in every place they seem to know Dr. Barlogie is the one bringing people from abroad here."

Between patients and their caregivers, the Institute accounts for about two hundred people staying in Little Rock at any given time. More so than other UAMS departments, it attracts patients from out of state. Nurse Bonnie Jenkens says some people have even bought second homes in Little Rock for the time they spend here.

"The networking is just phenomenal. You'd be absolutely shocked at the level of knowledge that patients have when they start deciding how they're going to save their life with this disease."

"When LR, AR came up, we thought no! no "

If that voice sounds familiar, it's because it belongs to Alex Chadwick, longtime host of NPR's Day to Day.

"But we started asking around and, yeah, Little Rock."

Chadwick's wife, Carolyn Chadwick, is the producer of National Geographic's "Radio Expedition" series. And she has multiple myeloma. Alex says his only knowledge of Little Rock before he came was the story of the Little Rock Nine and racial strife.

"That's not what I found here. I found a community that's very, very generous. Caring, open."

The UAMS Myeloma Institute treats four thousand patients a year. That kind of volume brings advantages in medical treatment, but it also brings together people who otherwise might feel very isolated.

"In that kind of complex over there, there are places everyone goes, kind of like stations of the cross, where everyone comes together."

The Institute even holds an in-house movie night once a month for entertainment. Alex Chadwick says any help is appreciated when your life is consumed by multiple myeloma.

"All your attention is focused on disease, disease, but you still have to eat. Money's a big part of it."

It costs a lot to get medical treatment away from home. UALR's Institute for Economic Advancement estimates that patients at the myeloma institute could spend fifty-seven million dollars a year in Little Rock. But that's not the bottom line for Chadwick.

"I hope for life with Carolyn. We really are in love with each other. And that's what we both hope for. Life with each other."
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