WHEN Angela Hill noticed she couldn’t shift her cough, she booked to see her GP.
Feeling breathless and weak, the now 68-year-old was fobbed off and dismissed by medics. Yet in hindsight she says there were other clues – typically put down to ageing – that something was seriously wrong.
She first saw her GP in June 2018 with a .
But the 68-year-old was told her symptoms were likely caused by .
“My cough was so horrendous, once I started I couldn’t’ stop,”; she tells Sun Health.
“It took my breath away completely and made me feel weak. I sounded like I .
“My doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with my chest and because of the time of year he said it was probably hay fever.
“But I’d never suffered from it, didn’t have any and didn’t have other hay symptoms such as .
“In hindsight, there were other signs something was seriously wrong.
“I had a tiredness I couldn’t shake and , but it took four visits to the doctor before I was given blood tests.
“I really pushed for tests with my doctor and I am so glad I did – it meant I had an early diagnosis and probably saved my life.”;
In March 2019, after blood tests and an X-ray at Corbett Hospital in Stourbridge, Angela was diagnosed with , an that occurs in the bone marrow.
The disease affects around 33,000 people in the UK.
“When the doctor said I had myeloma, I didn’t know what it was and I couldn’t really take it in,”; she said.
“It was my husband who twigged it was .
“When you hear those words you just think that’s the end but my consultant explained while it was incurable it was treatable.
“I told him I had young grandsons and I wanted to see them in big school.”;
Thankfully, Angela’s cancer was caught early.
In fact, her disease levels were so low that she didn’t need treatment straight away.
She said: “For a year I led a relatively normal life, I just needed to get my blood tested regularly.
“Because I had been persistent with the doctor my cancer was caught early and it hadn’t had a chance to do too much bone damage like it can with a later diagnosis.”;
Unlike many cancers, myeloma won’t manifest through a lump or .
With myeloma you know that it will keep coming back so you have to make the most of the time you have
Angela
According to Myeloma UK – the charity supporting people affected by the disease and funding research into treatments – the cancer can be difficult to detect as symptoms are often linked to general ageing or minor conditions.
Instead, the cancer affects bone marrow – the spongy material found in the centre of larger bones – in the spine, skull, pelvis, rib cage, long bones of the arms and legs, as well as the shoulders and hips.
A build-up of abnormal blood plasma cells in the bone marrow will release large amounts of an antibody called a paraprotein, and cause symptoms such as pain, , and bone disease that causes bones to fracture more easily.
Over a third of people with myeloma see a GP at least three times before getting a diagnosis, and around a quarter have to wait more than 10 months before they’re diagnosed.
Making the most of life
Angela, retired retail assistant, eventually began in June 2020, 15 months after her diagnosis.
The gran grappled with chemo side effects such as fatigue and a chance in taste.
But seven months of treatment kept her cancer at bay.
In July 2022, she had a stem cell transplant at Russell Hospital in Dudley, which involved removing stem cells from her body and having them transplanted back in after cancer cells were removed.
This reduced Angela’s cancer so it was almost untraceable.
She says: “With myeloma you know that it will keep coming back so you have to make the most of the time you have.
“After the I was lucky to have almost a year without any treatment.
“My husband and I did lots of walking, went on caravan holidays and of course made the most of the time with our sons and grandsons.”;
She became grateful for support from Myeloma UK, saying: “The website had so much information about myeloma written in a way that was easy-to-understand and made it less scary.
“I used the forums to ask people questions about chemotherapy and it was reassuring to know I wasn’t going through it alone.”;
In October 2023, Hill’s cancer levels increased and she was put on a clinical trial called Excaliber, which consists of three drugs iberdomide, dexamethasone and daratumumab.
She said: “I am so happy to be on the trial. I have had some side effects like putting on weight, but if it keeps me living longer I can deal with that.”;
Get checked
Angela is now making the most of life, spending time with her husband Wallace, 73, as well as her sons and grandsons.
She’s now raising awareness of the signs of myeloma and urging people to be persistent in seeing their GP about unusual symptoms.
She said: “The one thing I want to get across is the importance of an early diagnosis as it means you could live a relatively normal life.
“My myeloma hasn’t stopped us doing things – we go walking, lunch with friends and go to beautiful places in our caravan. I live a good life.
“But I want to encourage anyone with strange symptoms to be persistent with your GP.
“If you have been feeling tired, have unexplained back or rib pain or unexplained weight loss, anything that is unusual, follow your gut and press to be taken seriously.
“And if you are diagnosed, know that there is loads of support out there from charities like Myeloma UK, whether that’s getting the right information, having someone to talk to who knows what you are going through or simply knowing there is someone always in your corner fighting for research, treatments and awareness.”;
To find out more about Myeloma UK, visitmyeloma.org.u
