My own diagnosis with leukaemia is proof alone that early diagnosis makes a massive difference to your outlook and treatment. By the time my Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) was diagnosed, I was already in the most advanced stage of the illness - blast crisis phase. Therefore, the wonder drug Imatinib (Glivec) failed to work for more than a few weeks. This resulted in me having to undergo extremely intense (Flag/Ida) chemotherapy and radiotherapy before my transplant. And post transplant I remain on Nilotinib. The aim of Blood Cancer Awareness Month (September 2014) was to help educate the public on the symptoms of leukaemia in the aim of improving early diagnosis at GP level. Research carried out by Leukaemia CARE shows that more than half (57%) of patients are diagnosed at A&E (like myself) when the symptoms are already advanced - why aren’t they picked up at GP level?

Raising awareness of leukaemia during Blood Cancer Awareness Month - 2014.