{"id":289113,"date":"2025-11-29T04:26:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T04:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/289113\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T04:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T04:26:12","slug":"mum-left-completely-shocked-as-menopause-symptoms-turn-out-to-be-leukaemia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/289113\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum left ‘completely shocked’ as menopause symptoms turn out to be leukaemia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caroline Sweeney was fit and active when she began feeling unusually tired \u2014 weeks later she was told she had an aggressive blood cancer.Caroline Sweeney(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

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<\/a> diagnosis.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cin complete shock\u201d, reports GlasgowLive.<\/a><\/p>\n

The childminder, who had spent 15 years on her feet caring for youngsters, said: \u201cI\u2019d 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\u2019t walk uphill and had sores in my mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline was kept in hospital<\/a> 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 \u2014 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), an aggressive and fast-spreading blood cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in complete shock, I\u2019d always been so fit and well,\u201d she said. \u201cI 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\u2019d be so worried.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was transferred to the Beatson in Glasgow<\/a> for urgent chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

Caroline during treatment<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

By December, she was isolating at home ahead of a stem cell transplant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had my Christmas dinner delivered to me by family at the door \u2013 a drive-by dinner!\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n

On January 18 she received stem cells from an anonymous donor and, after three weeks in hospital, was able to continue recovery at home.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRecovery was hard, I couldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline continued to attend hospital for regular tests but, at long last, she was given the all-clear in April 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to relax since then. I couldn\u2019t properly before!\u201d she said. \u201cI feel so grateful to have had the support of my friends and family, I really credit them with my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever since, she has made a point of returning every Christmas with gifts for the nurses who helped save her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around 28 people in the UK are diagnosed with leukaemia every day. Caroline is now supporting Leukaemia UK\u2019s Christmas Appeal to help fund life-saving research and spare other families from the same heartbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caroline Sweeney was fit and active when she began feeling unusually tired \u2014 weeks later she was told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[75850,3462,107851,59,679,102,4396,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-289113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-alexandria","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-gifts","tag-gb","tag-glasgow","tag-health","tag-stem-cells","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}