A fitness enthusiast is sharing her story of how her leukaemia symptoms were mistaken for menopause as part of Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
Sarah Chapman, from Maidstone, was diagnosed with the disease two years after going back and forth to her GP for answers to her out-of-character fatigue and breathlessness.
Sarah Chapman from Maidstone is sharing her story to raise awareness of leukaemia symptoms
Despite having umpired and played hockey matches for nearly 35 years, she says she first began experiencing symptoms in 2011 when she found she “could not keep as fit”.
The 67-year-old said: “It was becoming harder and harder. I was getting breathless. My endurance was going down, and it just wasn’t right.
“I was getting chest infections and colds that just weren’t clearing.
“Everyone gets colds and things, but I just wasn’t bouncing back, so I just kept consulting the GP.”
Sarah also experienced sweats, skin issues and fatigue so bad she would come home from work and fall asleep straight away.
The 67-year-old umpiring a national indoor hockey game
Over the next two years, she made countless visits to her GP, and doctors carried out blood tests, but each time she was told everything looked normal.
Despite being referred to many different specialists, they said it was probably due to her age, as she was around menopause.
Sarah said: “I think it seemed to me quite quick at the time to say, well, at your age you should expect nothing else. What do you expect? You can’t live life as you have been. You’ve got to set the bar a bit lower.
“It felt to me a bit too easy to attribute it to menopausal symptoms.
“To be fair, some of the symptoms are quite common, but I think when someone goes back again and again with the same issue, it’s not that maybe.”
After two years, Sarah was referred to the haematology department at Maidstone
In 2013, a new GP looked at all her blood results again and this time spotted an anomaly.
Further tests revealed a worrying trend in abnormal blood cell size, and Sarah was referred to the haematology department at Maidstone Hospital.
She was diagnosed with blood condition myelodysplasia syndrome and told it would transform into acute myeloid leukaemia within three to five years.
Sarah said: “I kept on with my normal lifestyle as much as I possibly could, just keeping fit so I could endure any future treatments.
“I had regular appointments up at both Maidstone and King’s Hospital where they took bone marrow biopsies to check where we were and how far it had advanced.
Sarah at her stem cell transplant in November 2016
“They said my options would be a stem cell transplant, so in the meantime, my three siblings got tested to see if they would be a match and my younger brother was, so we had that in the bag.”
In June 2016, just when she was about to go on holiday, Sarah recieved a call telling her she needed to come to the hospital as her health had taken a turn.
As she had dreaded, almost three years on the dot from her first diagnosis, she had developed acute myeloid leukaemia – a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
That same year, she underwent three rounds of chemotherapy, which got her into remission, and recieved a stem cell transplant donated by her brother Colin to give her the best chance of the cancer staying that way.
Just 10 months after, Sarah returned to hockey and has since reached a milestone of 125 national outdoor and over 50 indoor matches, a world indoor masters event and a European masters event, and continues to umpire and coach others.
Sarah’s first time back on the pitch after her transplant
She said: “Looking back at what I lived with, I would say to anybody, don’t be stressed about being a worried well.
“If it’s not normal for you, go to your GP, talk to a medic, people who know something about it, and get their advice and try and get tested and see if there is anything.
“It may be nothing, but it’s worth checking out.”
September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, and Leukaemia UK is urging people to familiarise themselves with the signs of the disease.
Symptoms can include extreme tiredness, bruising , unusual bleeding and repeated infections.
Chief executive of the charity Fiona Hazell said: “We’re so grateful to Sarah for sharing her story to help raise awareness of leukaemia.
“Most of the signs and symptoms are not specific, so can often get mistaken for other illnesses or be explained away.
“Early diagnosis saves lives. That is why we encourage anyone with symptoms to make sure it’s nothing serious by speaking to their GP and asking for a full blood count test.”