A NI couple are helping fight to find a cure for cancer after a shock incurable diagnosis.
53-year-old Fiona McCamphill from North Antrim was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in 2017 around the time of her 25th wedding anniversary.
Her and husband Niall had made plans to travel to see friends in the US to celebrate the occasion.
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Fiona said: "The problem was that I was in a lot of pain and struggling with my mobility. I wouldn’t be able to go.
"I thought it was coming from previous surgery on my back after fracturing bones. We made an appointment with my spinal surgeon again and, after scans and X-rays, he spotted white dots on my spine and skull.
"Our lives totally changed focus that moment when I was told, 'you have cancer, it’s incurable!'
"On Halloween night 2017, I was in the Royal Victoria Hospital, then transferred to Belfast City Hospital. I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
"My consultant and all the staff in haematology in the City Hospital became our new family.
"They are truly amazing human beings. They reassured me that I had options - they could treat it, I was at an early stage, I could fight it!"
She added: "We had a plan of action: I had chemotherapy and radiotherapy to target areas straight away.
"It might not sound like it but I realise now how lucky I was.
"Niall and our family rallied round - that support kept me going. It still does today.
"A year later, I had a massive dose of chemotherapy, followed the next day by a stem cell transplant, using healthy stem cells that I produced myself."
Fiona then spent a month in isolation and received blood transfusions along with nursing care.
"It was tough but I had come through it.
"Three and a half years later, I’m still fighting and loving the simple things in everyday life.
"Niall and I, and our family, have come through this experience with the help of many others," she said.
Niall and Fiona are fundraising to help find a cure through Cure Leukaemia.
This funds a nationwide program called TAP, the Trials Acceleration Program. It has 12 bases in the UK, one of which is in the Belfast City Hospital.
The mum-of-two added: "They are working tirelessly to find a cure for blood cancer and to find better treatment options for people like me.
"1 person in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer every 14 minutes.
"Niall is cycling the full 21 stages of the Tour de France two weeks before the professionals.
"He is part of a group of 19 men and women from the UK, raising £1million for Cure Leukaemia. On the 24th of June 2022, Niall is joining former England and Crystal Palace footballer and leukaemia survivor, Geoff Thomas, to cycle the full Tour de France route, one week ahead of the professionals.
"The Tour 21 will take place from Friday 24 June to Sunday 17 July and Niall, alongside a team of 19 riders, will take on all 21 gruelling stages and 3,500km. As one of the members of this group, they are committed to raising £1,000,000 for the charity that helped save Geoff's life.
"All funds raised from this event will be invested directly into the national Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) network which Cure Leukaemia has been funding since January 2020, allowing them to open and run clinical trials for pioneering treatments for the disease.
"An amazing feat of endurance and strength. I compare his training regime, and the effort he is making, to my journey through chemo and treatment. The sickness, the exhaustion, good days and bad, sweat and tears.
“You really don’t know how strong you are until being strong is your only option.”
You can follow Niall and the team Tour21 on the NBC sports channel.
He heads off on the June 23, for three and a half weeks starting in Copenhagen and finishing in Paris.
To donate, visit the JustGiving page.
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