I got through leukaemia – and took my final tablet at the top of Ben Nevis

I left school at 16 and joined the Royal Navy. At 19 I was working in the Persian Gulf, on anti-piracy and anti-drug running operations. They were long, hard, physically demanding days, so when I found myself shattered and covered in bruises, I just put it down to my lifestyle.

It wasn’t until my gums started bleeding and I was passing blood in my urine that I went to the ship’s doctor.  He took me to a hospital in Dubai, where I had a bone marrow biopsy. When I came round, they told me I had leukaemia. I was flown back to England a couple of days before I turned 20 – it definitely wasn’t the birthday I planned or wanted.  

Rather than going home to Hull, I was treated at the Teenage Cancer Young Person’s unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where all military personnel serving abroad are brought back to for treatment. I was told I’d need to have a year of intensive chemotherapy, before having maintenance treatment back home.  My parents each took it in turns to stay with me, while the other stayed at home with my younger brother.

The staff at Queen Elizabeth helped me through the first difficult weeks and I remained under their exceptional care until February 2021, when I was transferred to Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, East Yorkshire, for maintenance treatment. This meant going to hospital once a month for intravenous chemotherapy and daily tablets.

During all this I’d lost my hair and I had low energy, but I conditioned my body to work with that. It wasn’t until the maintenance treatment that I had some bad joint pains and it stopped me enjoying walks and climbs.

All the Teenage Cancer Trust staff I encountered helped save my life. Castle Hill Teenage Youth Support Coordinator, Charlene, and the nurses, Vic and Claire, spent time getting to know me. At my consultations, when the doctors were using too much ‘doctor speak’, they’d step in and ask them to explain things. Then afterwards they’d break the medical information down for me and answer any questions I had.

I had a bit of a wobble and was feeling stressed out, but I didn’t want to admit it to my family. I’d built up a great relationship with Charlene and I felt comfortable chatting to her. She sat with me while I spoke about what was bothering me and helped me get it off my chest. I knew I could ring her whenever I needed to.

I also went on nights out with the other patients which Charlene organised. We didn’t talk about the treatment, just everyday things, but we knew we’d been through similar experiences.

Then I caught Covid. I felt OK during the isolation period, but then I woke up and couldn’t lift my head from the pillow, and I was burning up. I didn’t want to go to hospital, but Charlene and Claire convinced me I needed to. I’m usually a very active person and I enjoy paddle boarding, kayaking and climbing mountains, but I struggled to do that after having Covid. It knocked me for six and it took me months to recover.

At the end of my treatment, I climbed Ben Nevis. When I got to the top, I took my final chemo tablet. I asked my friend to record it for me, as it was a great moment and it represented me reaching the end of a very long treatment period. Mentally, it was a big moment too – I thought: “That’s me done. Now I can do what I want to do.”