Ryan Houston: Perth dad’s fight against incurable blood cancer as cases rise across Australia

Perth father of two Ryan Houston was busy, healthy and active — regularly throwing himself into surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding — when he started to experience back pain and migraines in 2020. He wouldn’t know it for another three years but an incurable blood cancer was spreading throughout his bone marrow and breaking down his bone tissue. As the pain and fatigue worsened, Mr Houston pushed on, never taking a sick day from his corporate services career in the city while seeing doctors, physios and chiropractors in a bid to find answers. After several misdiagnoses of auto immune disorders and failed treatments, Mr Houston reached breaking point in 2023 at the age of just 50. He was in constant pain and could no longer walk, forcing him to take leave from his job. “I’d sit on the bed in tears before work. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Walking felt like moving through mud,” he recalled. When a diagnosis finally came, in July 2023, it was accompanied by the worst possible news. Doctors told Mr Houston, and his wife Kelly, that he had myeloma, and gave him only six months to live. “My wife’s 50th was in May and they said ‘we don’t think you’ll get there.’ It was a really intense time, the front door was a revolving door of friends and family, so many tears, and I started writing my will and picking out songs for my funeral,” he said. Despite the devastating prognosis, Mr Houston’s “amazing” specialist, Professor of Hematology Chan Cheah, from Hollywood and Sir Charles Gairdner hospitals, recommended immunotherapy treatment. And over the ensuing five months Mr Houston responded incredibly well, improving to the stage where he could undergo a stem cell transplant in January 2024. Myeloma, which starts in the plasma cells of the bone marrow, is more commonly seen in people aged in their 70s and 80s. There is no cure for the cancer, but Mr Houston’s disease is now stable. He is hopeful he may be eligible for a new way of treating myeloma, CAR-T cell therapy, which is currently not funded for his stage of treatment. In the meantime, he and his wife are planning a sea change to Jurien Bay with their teenage children in the coming months. “We’re at the point where we realised we need to make some new memories,” Mrs Houston said. Mr Houston added: “I’m still recovering now, it’s been relentless. It changes you, I had to reinvent myself. I’ll never go snowboarding again, but I’ve learned to appreciate what I can do. “Through this horrible, horrible journey, you do get some strange positives out of it, with relationships and friendships getting tighter. “I now have a lot of hope. I don’t think too far ahead — but I’m still here.” September is blood cancer awareness month, and Leukaemia Foundation chief executive Chris Tanti said blood cancer was on target to become the leading cancer in Australia. Incidence and mortality have increased more than any other leading cancer in the past 20 years. This year, more than 20,000 Australians will be newly diagnosed with blood cancer such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma, and come 2035, blood cancer diagnosis per year is predicted to double. Despite this, unlike many other cancers, there are no screening programs available for blood cancer, and there is no way to prevent blood cancer through lifestyle change. For more information and blood cancer support, visit leukaemia.org.au