‘It broke my heart seeing the fear in their eyes’: Woman shares story of AML diagnosis
A former teaching assistant lost her Dad to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) when she was just 17 and years later she was diagnosed with the same illness.
Ahead of World AML Day on April 21, Sharon Sinclair, 58, from Wildmore, Bromley South, is sharing her story of being diagnosed with AML.
Mrs Sinclair said: “I thought I knew the signs of blood cancer, my Dad died of AML when I was 17.
“He went in for blood tests on the Monday, went into Royal Marsden on the Tuesday, and died the next day while I was waiting to go and see him.’
Mrs Sinclair’s Dad, Patrick Sinclair, was just 41 at the time.
In October 2018 Mrs Sinclair was experiencing fatigue and breathlessness.
On January 3, 2019, Mrs Sinclair’s GP fast tracked her to Princess Royal Hospital in Farnborough.
Mrs Sinclair said: “I had a bone marrow test done and within 2 hours was told I had acute myeloid leukaemia. It was a huge shock.”
AML is a type of blood cancer which can affect anyone of any age. The disease claims over 2,600 lives each year in the UK and has a 5-year survival rate of just 15.3 per cent.
The disease progresses very quickly, and usually requires immediate treatment. Common symptoms include fatigue, bruising or bleeding, and repeated infections.
Mrs Sinclair, who was 54 when she was diagnosed, began chemotherapy immediately but was only given a 40 per cent chance of success.
She said: “My poor Mum was beside herself, having to tell my husband John, who I’ve been married to for 33 years, and my two sons Johnny and Luke, was awful.
“It broke my heart seeing the fear in their eyes.”
Mrs Sinclair went into remission after her first round of chemotherapy but still needed a bone marrow transplant to improve her chances.
A match was found in Germany and, after another round of chemo, Mrs Sinclair went to King’s College Hospital in London for a stem cell transplant. In December 2019, Mrs Sinclair was told she was 100 per cent clear from cancer.
The charity Leukaemia UK is calling on the public to help fund more research, which is desperately needed to stop the disease devastating lives in future.
For more information visit: http://www.leukaemiauk.org.uk/
Pictured Top: Sharon Sinclair, before, during and after AML (Picture: Leukaemia UK)
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