A young Edinburgh man was diagnosed with aggressive leukaemia after noticing red freckles on his arms and bleeding gums.
Graeme Clark, who was 29 when he was diagnosed, experienced the symptoms at the end of 2017 and just weeks later, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Now 34, Graeme has opened up on his life-changing journey and how he is now in remission. On the day Graeme was given the devastating diagnosis, he woke up in A&E after suffering an ankle injury playing football.
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Later that day he was due to attend an appointment to get to the bottom of the freckles, fatigue and bruising he was experiencing. A&E staff sent him home to discuss these issues with his GP, proving how subtle the symptoms of leukaemia can be.
Following blood tests taken by his GP, Graeme, from Leith, received a call at 9.30pm that night, telling him to go immediately to the Western General Hospital where his diagnosis was confirmed.
Graeme is now sharing his experience and encouraging others who may be concerned about possible cancer symptoms to contact their GP without delay.
The Scottish government’s ‘Be the Early Bird’ campaign reinforces the benefits of finding cancer at an earlier stage when there’s more treatment options available, a greater likelihood of living well after treatment and better news to tell the family.
The campaign is particularly aimed at those aged 40 and over, and urges everyone with persistent symptoms, unusual for them, to contact their GP practice without delay to get checked – this could include unexplained bleeding, unusual lumps, unexplained weight loss or something that doesn’t feel normal for them.
Graeme said: "When the Western phoned me, they said I needed to go to the oncology ward and I knew what that word meant. My wife and I drove in, preparing ourselves for the news.
"The rash – called a petechial rash – was a result of not having enough platelets in my body to stop even tiny knocks from bruising my skin, because my blood was unable to clot. The doctor told me that you’re meant to have between 150,000 and 400,000 platelets per microliter of blood and I only had 12,000.
"Apart from the symptoms that prompted me to get checked, the worrying thing was I felt largely normal. I’d climbed a Munro the week before and had been on holiday with my in-laws. I now know that leukaemia can be a really rapid cancer, and it literally just crept up on me. Had I not visited the GP that day, I dread to think how many days I had left."
"I was given platelet support that night, a bone marrow biopsy on the Monday morning to confirm the type of blood cancer I had, then chemotherapy started that same night.
"I had incredible doctors – I remember my consultant immediately spoke with words like cure and I took confidence from that.
"Of course, I have hard memories of my mum running in a panic past my hospital room to find me, days when I felt pretty horrendous from the treatments, and remember being told I’d be off work for a year which was really hard to take in."
Graeme underwent chemotherapy before being discharged to spend Christmas with his wife Nic and family. Before being discharged, he was introduced to a stem cell nurse who explained that tests on his blood and bone marrow showed that he would likely need a stem cell transplant to cure him, but that another session of chemotherapy was planned to keep the leukaemia at bay, until a suitable donor could be found.
Results from Graeme’s bone marrow biopsy in the February, after a second round of chemotherapy, confirmed that he would need a stem cell transplant. He would also need to undergo a third round of chemotherapy and eight rounds of radiotherapy in preparation for the transplant.
With a stem cell transplant giving Graeme the best chance of cure, his brother Jamie came forward as a potential donor and tests incredibly showed he was a perfect match; as only around 1 in 4 people find a match in a family member.
The transplant – which involves replacing bone marrow with healthy cells - took place at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre on 12 April, almost six months after Graeme’s diagnosis, and 22 days later, he had a brand new immune system.
Since the transplant, liver issues caused by the donated stem cells attacking Graeme’s own body cells, needed to be managed by immunosuppression medication and steroids for almost two years - and he no longer has a functioning spleen due to the radiotherapy treatment, which he manages with a tablet a day.
He is monitored once a year, and this year he will be marking the five-year anniversary of his life changing transplant. He and brother Jamie mark it every year with a ‘blood brothers’ day.
Graeme continued: "I had six months of intensive treatment, and I would say it was around another six months before I felt physically quite good again. I think you only get past the psychological stuff after the three-to-four-year mark. Now I feel great, and I will feel phenomenal when I get to April and can say I am five years completely clear.
"I’m physically the strongest I’ve ever been, carrying on the discipline I had around exercising throughout my treatment and right now I feel mentally strong.
"I literally have no health issues, other than that daily pill to deal with the fact I’ve not got a functioning spleen.”
"Me and my wife Nic have a ‘can do’ mentality. We went to New York when my treatment was over, and enjoyed some amazing holidays in 2019.
"The one thing I would say we’ve lost is our innocence. I always had it in my head we’d live well into our 80s with no issues. I was 29 when I was diagnosed, so we can’t think like that anymore and I suppose that’s the saddest thing. I would love for that not to have been robbed from us.
"But life is as it was before my diagnosis, we were a strong unit before and if anything it’s made us stronger."
Graeme added: "I’ll defend the NHS to the hilt. We’re so lucky to have the cancer treatment available to us, and the expertise of everyone from my GP to the consultants meant my leukaemia was diagnosed and swiftly treated.
"My advice to anyone concerned about a possible symptom is to make an appointment with your GP practice immediately. It doesn’t bear thinking about what could have happened if I’d not been diagnosed at that point. Go with your gut if you feel something is wrong. Don’t google it or sit and worry about it, put your trust in the professionals. Regretting doing nothing is so not worth it."
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