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.
Jayne’s story
When Jayne Handley suffered hot flushes and night sweats in 2022 at the age of 55, she blamed the menopause and thought little more about it.
But when she was rushed to hospital with pneumonia later that year, blood tests revealed she had the blood cancer Myeloma, which had also caused a tumour behind her eye, giving her double vision.
Jayne, now 57 and in remission in 2024 after several courses of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, has shared details of her experience with LMRUK. She hopes what she went through will help others spot early signs of the disease and understand that, while not currently curable, Myeloma can be managed.
Jayne’s daughter, Rachel, took part in the Tatton Park 10k in aid of LMRUK in the summer of 2024, raising more than £2,500 for the charity. Her friend, Nicole Murphy, who ran with Rachel, raised a further £1,000 for LMRUK.
Jayne paid tribute to the work of our charity and the vital research we invest in. “If I can be of any help at all to those who are researching this disease, I am only too happy to help,” she said.
She said she knew night sweats are a symptom of blood cancers but are also common for woman going through the menopause. “I was losing a little bit of weight at the time and having hot flushes and night sweats, which I thought was linked to the menopause,” she said. “I now wonder if it wasn’t the first sign of the blood cancer.”
However, it wasn’t until blood tests following her treatment for pneumonia revealed high levels of infection that Jayne’s Myeloma diagnosis was revealed. She said she was unhappy at the way she got the news, from her GP.
“I got a phone call from the GP to say I needed to come in to talk about the blood tests,” she said. “I wasn’t asked to bring anyone with me, although my husband did come along. I was told: ‘it looks like you have blood cancer – there’s no cure’. It was like I had been hit in the face with a hammer.”
Jayne is full of praise, however, for the care she received at the Salford Royal Hospital, where she was referred. The consultant in the haematology department told her that although Myeloma was incurable, it could be managed, and a course of treatment was planned.
She underwent four courses of chemotherapy with a final major dose of the treatment before stem cells were removed from her blood and then put back into her blood stream to help fight the cancer. She said: “They removed four million stem cells and put two million back in. The other two million were frozen in case I need them in the future.”
The chemotherapy and stem cell transplant shrank the tumour behind her eye and her double vision has now almost disappeared while the level of Myeloma in her system has dramatically reduced, enabling her to continue with a normal life. “I feel absolutely fine,” she said. “I am about to go into the garden to dig a hole for a plant to go in!”
Jayne, who praised the support of her friends and family, including daughter Rachel, son Harrison and her husband Philip, also paid tribute to the haematology department at Salford Royal Hospital. “They have been absolutely brilliant,” she said. “I’ve had everything I wanted from them – and so caring.”
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 Myeloma, read our informative blog here: https://lmruk.org/2021/10/18/what-is-myeloma/.
