A mum-of-three, who was told by her GP that her symptoms of constant fatigue and loss of appetite were due to menopause, was shocked to be diagnosed with incurable bone marrow cancer just days before her 46th birthday.
Louise Greenbank, 48, from Uddingston in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, started feeling extremely tired and had pain in her rib in June 2021. She thought it was because she was overworked at her job in a convenience store during the pandemic.
Despite visiting her GP several times, Louise was only told that her symptoms were due to menopause. But she suddenly found herself unable to speak or hold her head up because of extreme tiredness.
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Her husband thought she was having a stroke and rushed her to the hospital. There, a doctor told her she had cancer in the middle of the night when she was alone.
The next day, she was told she had multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, and it was incurable.
Today, Louise is grateful to be alive after receiving a new drug combination called DVTD, which had just become available in Scotland.
Louise, who is now in remission after a stem cell transplant, said: “Before I got diagnosed, I couldn’t go to work I basically couldn’t get off the couch.” She also shared her symptoms, adding: “I was just sleeping all the time, no appetite, I was going to the toilet a lot and I was getting quite confused.”
She went on to explain how she was initially misdiagnosed: “They tried to blame it on the menopause because of my age I couldn’t believe it.”
In June 2021, Louise started experiencing rib pain, which turned out to be the first sign of her cancer. Despite being prescribed painkillers for what was thought to be inflammation, her condition did not improve.
After a blood test revealed she was anaemic, she was referred to a haematologist. Unfortunately, her health deteriorated rapidly soon after.
She shared: “My husband thought I had a stroke I couldn’t speak or really sit up and hold my head up properly. He took me back to the doctors and explained that he thought there was something seriously wrong, and the doctor did some more tests.”
The next day, Louise got a call from her GP asking her to go to a local hospital. She doesn’t want to name the hospital or the GP surgery.
She said: “At this point I could hardly walk or talk, it was so frightening. I can remember telling the doctors and nurses that I wasn’t drunk I remember being paranoid because I was slurring my words so much.
“The doctor then said ‘I know you’re not, you’re seriously ill’ and asked where my husband was. He had gone home because of the strict visiting hours in Covid.”
But at 2am the following morning, days before her 46th birthday, Louise found out she had cancer.
She shared: “One of the doctors checking on me said ‘I think you have cancer’. I just looked at them and said ‘Do you really think I needed to know that at two o’clock in the morning when I’m waiting here on my own?’.
“I asked them to stop and that I didn’t want to know anything else until my husband was with me.”
Louise said: “I was just so shocked I put all of my symptoms down to the fact it was Covid, I was working in a convenience store having hardly any time off I was waking up at 4am and then back out again at night. I burst into tears and just wanted my husband.”
From August 2021, Louise underwent four months of DVTD treatment. In December 2021, she was referred for a stem cell transplant, which involves replacing damaged blood cells with healthy ones.
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The following month, she had a stem cell harvest, which she found “quite horrendous”, and had to take several anti-sickness medications.
The stem cell transplant surgery was scheduled for January 27, 2022, but Louise contracted Covid, so she had to isolate and the operation was postponed.
In April 2022, Louise finally had the transplant and was declared to be in remission.
Louise, who started her maintenance medication in November 2022, visits the hospital every month to ensure her cancer markers aren’t returning. She shared: “When I found out I was in remission, I had a party and was just so happy. But I’m not under any illusions I know my condition is incurable, it’s just amazing that I was able to have the DVTD treatment.”
“The maintenance tablets give me stomach and bowel issues, but the fatigue is the worst part. This is my life now it’s my new normal.”
“I’ll be on these tablets until the cancer comes back and they stop working.”
She also spoke about how this journey has changed her perspective on life: “I’ve got a bucket list of things to do and I say yes to more things. We recently went to Seattle, Hawaii and then the west coast of America, all the way up to San Francisco which was brilliant.
“I’d also like to go to Vietnam and Singapore for my 50th birthday, see my kids finish school and see my eldest get into medical school. It’s made me appreciate things, and how much I’m loved for sure I’m so thankful to be here today.”
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
