A mum-of-two who brushed off her fatigue for postpartum symptoms recieved a heartbreaking leukaemia diagnosis after she fell over during a netball game.
Lynsey Gregory, who was 33 at the time, said she was suffering from overnight sweats and a cough but assumed it was linked to her newborn baby. She decided to push on and get back into the sport in January 2019, but after she dropped to the ground she developed strange bruising on her arm.
The mum, from Wigan, said the bruising had lasted for over a week which is when her own mum started to become concerned. Things started to take a turn for the worse after she asked a doctor during a routine visit with her son. "The bruising came up almost immediately on my arms and they were very dark," Lynsey explained. "They [ the GP] ran a blood test on me and when the results came back they found that my platelet count was very low.”
Doctors told Lynsey to come back another day to repeat the test and they found there was a pattern, reports Manchester Evening News. She said: "[The doctor] said I would have to go have a transfusion and I just panicked. I remember kissing my children on the head before heading into the hospital because I was thinking ‘this is serious’.”
Lynsey didn’t end up having the transfusion but she was kept in overnight and was “really upset” to be away from husband Chris, and children Theo and Tilly who were then three-years-old and six months respectively. She continued:“That night, a young doctor began to ask me questions such as was I experiencing night sweats, did I have a cough, are you tired? I could answer every question with an excuse. I said ‘yeah, I have had night sweats but that’s because we’ve had the heating on really high and my little boy had a cough so he must have passed it on to me, and I’m tired because I’m breastfeeding and have two small children.’ The look on her face... I just knew she thought it was something different".
A bone marrow test was run on Lynsey as her platelets dropped to deathly levels of just 9. When the results came back, she was told she had leukaemia. Lynsey said: “It was horrendous. I was told in one breath that I had leukaemia and that I’d have to leave the children for a month. I was heartbroken. I went to Christie’s [ cancer centre ] the day after my diagnosis… I was so poorly. I was there for four weeks away from the children, I’ve never felt heartbreak like it. I was expressing and sending milk home for Tilly until I started chemotherapy, and all the while I was just worried for everyone else, how they were coping with things, panicked how I was going to tell my little boy what was going on".
After spending nine months in and out of hospital, undergoing chemotherapy and waiting for a stem cell donor as none of her family members were a match, Lynsey got the news that they had found someone suitable. She underwent a stem cell transplant in September 2019, which she thanks to a stranger “who had kindly donated their stem cells.”
While the surgery was a success, Lynsey experienced something called Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) which she described has been “an up and down journey.” GvHD is a systemic disorder that occurs when the graft's (donated stem cells) immune cells recognise the host (the receiver’s tissue) as foreign and attack the recipient's body cells.
Lynsey said: “Basically it began to attack my organs. GvHD comes in many different forms and it’s very severe - people can lose their lives because of it. But, they always say a little bit of it is a good thing because it shows that the transplant is working. I was very lucky but I had it on my skin, which wasn’t pleasant. I’ve had it in other ways as well but it’s just been an up and down journey since. Doctors say the chemo was like a sprint to the finish line but after the transplant it’s a marathon, because it’s got so many different turns and ups and downs. I still go to the hospital every eight weeks, but I suffer with my eyes which have taken some damage from it. I wear sunglasses quite a bit and use eye drops frequently. Part of my scalp was affected by the GvHD so I wear a wig but it gives me lots of confidence".
Lynsey says during her time undergoing chemotherapy, cancer charity Maggie's played a key role in helping her family come to terms with her diagnosis. The centre next to The Christie Hospital in Withington provides support to those affected by cancer and their families. Maggie's is open to anyone and everyone, but it costs an £4,000 a day to run. The centre does not receive any government funding and relies solely on donations. To donate visit here.