As a United States Navy veteran, Gregory Walker knows what it means to demonstrate bravery in the face of potentially life-threatening circumstances. After all, he did a total of three tours of duty overseas serving in the Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom conflicts.

But despite this background, when Walker was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2020, he admits, “I was scared. Because when you hear the word ‘cancer,’ you think it’s the end.”

Instead, it turned out to be a new beginning for Walker and other multiple myeloma patients. Because in the years following his diagnosis, Walker participated in not one but two clinical trials at the O’Neal Cancer Center, one of which led to the FDA approval of a drug combination to be used for relapsed patients in early 2026.

“I told them if my treatments and lab results will help other people, I don’t mind doing it,” Walker says. “It’s give and take. They helped me, so now I’m helping someone else.”

Walker initially was suspected of having multiple myeloma following a week-long stay at the Clearview Cancer Institute in his hometown of Anniston. The clinicians then recommended that he transfer his care to the O’Neal Cancer Center, where his diagnosis was confirmed.

"The team at UAB, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. They took care of me."

Gregory Walker

Under the direction of UAB multiple myeloma specialists Kelly Godby, M.D., and Luciano Costa, M.D., Ph.D., Walker was placed into a trial designed to determine the depth of response to chemotherapy treatment for multiple myeloma. Within a year Walker no longer had any signs of the disease; the therapy ended, though he remained under observation.

But in 2023, the cancer returned. That is when Walker agreed to a second trial, the MajesTEC-3 study evaluating the combination of the bispecific antibody teclistamab and the targeted immunotherapy daratumumab specifically for patients who had relapsed.

“The data [from that trial] showed that after three years, patients were almost three times more likely for their cancer not to have returned,” Godby says. “Based off that, it led to FDA approval. Now we’re using that in the early relapse setting, thanks to trial patients like Mr. Walker being brave enough to try it.”

Walker says his bravery came with help from others at UAB. He recalls one medical assistant in particular who gave him words of encouragement before he started his first cancer treatment.

“I was nervous, because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Walker says. “There was a person who met me who saw my veteran hat and said, ‘You’re going to be all right. You’ve got this, solider.’ … The team at UAB, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. They took care of me.”

In turn, Walker is trying to do his part to help others by spreading the word about both the value of clinical trials and the quality of care he received at the O’Neal Cancer Center.

“Mr. Walker doesn’t advocate just for himself. He goes into the community and brings awareness of the disease and advocates for trials,” Godby says. “He’s able to reach people that it’s hard for the medical community to reach and help them understand why trials matter. That he’s doing well now is because of his willingness to listen to the science, to not be afraid and to try.

“You have to be altruistic sometimes to be a cancer patient participating in a trial. You have to believe that even if you don’t benefit from it, if you advance the science, then other people will benefit from these trials. He always had that faith that he wanted to do the right thing for himself and for others.”