Caroline Sweeney was fit and active when she began feeling unusually tired — weeks later she was told she had an aggressive blood cancer.
Caroline Sweeney(Image: Supplied)
A Scots mum has told of the moment her life turned upside down after what she thought were menopause symptoms turned out to be a devastating cancer diagnosis.
Caroline Sweeney, 54, believed she was simply entering the next stage of life when she began feeling exhausted and developed painful sores in her mouth in May 2022. But the reality left her “in complete shock”, reports GlasgowLive.
The childminder, who had spent 15 years on her feet caring for youngsters, said: “I’d been a childminder for 15 years, walking 25,000 steps a day, and never had a sick day. But suddenly I was exhausted, I couldn’t walk uphill and had sores in my mouth.
“I decided to go to my GP who booked me for a blood test. Just seven hours later she rang and said I needed to go to Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria for a blood transfusion, I couldn’t believe it.”
Caroline was kept in hospital for several days for transfusions and tests, including a bone marrow biopsy. On May 18 she was given the news no one wants to hear — acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), an aggressive and fast-spreading blood cancer.
“I was in complete shock, I’d always been so fit and well,” she said. “I was so sad for my two grown up daughters Jodie and Jessica and my partner Michael more than for myself. They are my absolute world and I knew they’d be so worried.”
She was transferred to the Beatson in Glasgow for urgent chemotherapy.
Caroline during treatment
“I had six rounds of chemo. I tolerated it ok but it caused a terrible skin rash. I also had sepsis and E.coli during my time in hospital, which was awful, but all the staff from the ward were absolute angels in nurses’ clothing.”
By December, she was isolating at home ahead of a stem cell transplant.
“I had my Christmas dinner delivered to me by family at the door – a drive-by dinner!” she laughed.
On January 18 she received stem cells from an anonymous donor and, after three weeks in hospital, was able to continue recovery at home.
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“Recovery was hard, I couldn’t comprehend how weak I was. I remember trying to cook and not even being able to lift things out of the fridge. I made sure to go for short walks and slowly I started to improve.”
Caroline continued to attend hospital for regular tests but, at long last, she was given the all-clear in April 2025.
“I’ve been able to relax since then. I couldn’t properly before!” she said. “I feel so grateful to have had the support of my friends and family, I really credit them with my recovery.”
Ever since, she has made a point of returning every Christmas with gifts for the nurses who helped save her life.
“I now go back every Christmas with a big hamper for the nurses. I want them to know how incredible they are, they come in smiling every day, work long hours and have to do such difficult things. I will never be able to give back what they gave me to me, but I can at least make sure they have some champagne and chocolates at Christmas.”
Around 28 people in the UK are diagnosed with leukaemia every day. Caroline is now supporting Leukaemia UK’s Christmas Appeal to help fund life-saving research and spare other families from the same heartbreak.