This Blood Cancer Awareness Month, we’re speaking with blood cancer patients to share their stories, from the symptoms they first experienced to diagnosis and treatment, to help raise awareness of this disease.
Richard’s story
Retired insurance broker Richard Woods believes swift action by his wife, Naomi, in taking him to hospital when Covid left him breathless and weak almost certainly saved his life.
Within two hours of arrival at Kingston Hospital, Surrey, Richard, 65 – who thought he had a chest infection as well as coronavirus – had been diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia (APML), a rare type of blood cancer, a subset of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
Richard, from Walton-on-Thames, is telling his story to help others with blood cancers or who might fall ill with the disease. He spent 40 days in hospital from 23rd December 2022, and now, almost 20 months later, is clear of cancer and feeling fit and well.
His stepdaughter, Tamara Walbourn, raised more than £2,500 for LMRUK in 2023 taking part in the Leeds Half Marathon.
Richard credits his wife’s insistence that he go to hospital, the care he received from the NHS, and a positive mental attitude for helping him get through the ordeal.
He explains: “I caught Covid on the 9th of December, as did my wife. She had very few symptoms and was better in four or five days, whereas I got steadily worse. I went to the GP who prescribed antibiotics, but I wasn’t getting better. I couldn’t even climb the stairs without taking a breather and I didn’t eat anything for a week.”
It was at that point Naomi stepped in and took Richard, previously fit and heathy and a keen golfer and walker, to hospital. “I was admitted at 10am and by 12.30am I had been diagnosed with APML,” he said.
Doctors who performed the blood test to diagnose the condition started giving Richard chemotherapy treatment straight away, along with intensive monitoring of his temperature and other vital signs to try to keep him free from infections.
He said it was crucial to stay in hospital because of the infection risk, which is increased during chemotherapy when the body’s defences are at their lowest.
Richard said the support of his family and the health professionals caring for him ensured he stayed positive throughout the treatment. “The only time I wasn’t positive was on New Year’s Eve when we got told there was Covid on the ward,” he said.
It meant visitors were banned for around ten days. “That was a real downer,” Richard said. “I thought then, ‘God, have I seen my family for the last time?’” Fortunately, the Covid outbreak passed and, day by day the treatment Richard was receiving started to make him feel better.
He said there were side effects from the chemotherapy, including an extremely sore throat that made eating painful, an itchy rash on his back and swollen legs. But Richard said he was advised by nursing staff to try to stay active and took a daily walk along the hospital corridor.
He has continued with the exercise regime since coming home from hospital, walking the family cockerpoo, Dexter and playing golf. Richard is a member of SCRAGS – the Surrey Cricket and Golfing Society – which has also raised money for LMRUK directly because of his diagnosis and treatment.
Richard was discharged from hospital on February 1st and was still having treatment until September 9th, visiting Kingston Hospital between two and five times a week. Since the treatment finished, he has been undergoing bone marrow check-ups once every three months.
He said looking back there was one occasion in late November, which might have been a clue to his blood cancer – but he dismissed it at the time and doesn’t believe it would have made any difference to his treatment regime, even if he had raised the alarm.
“I was playing golf and going up to the 17th tee on the course in Kent where we were playing there is a slight hill. I was out of breath just walking up it – but I forgot all about it and carried on playing. That could have been a sign of my blood cancer,” he said.
He’s confident that, having beaten the disease, he will continue to remain fit and healthy – and keen to support the work of LMRUK, which concentrates on research to improve treatment for blood cancers and ultimately, to find a cure.
If you, or someone you know, is experiencing any of the common symptoms linked to blood cancer, please book an appointment to visit your GP as soon as possible.
To find out more about Leukaemia, read our informative blog here: https://lmruk.org/2021/08/17/what-is-leukaemia-and-lymphoma/.
