A WOMAN who was diagnosed with cancer claims she was fobbed off as being “overly anxious” and suicidal.
But Clare Crossey, 35, claims she was told had she waited just two days longer after her diagnosis, she might have died.
Clare developed a rash on her chest, bruising on her legs and felt tired and unwell in February 2018.
The former care-worker from Lurgan, Northern Ireland, looked up her symptoms online and immediately worried she had leukaemia.
“I had a feeling in the back of my head that things weren’t right,” she told Belfast Live.
The mum of two daughters booked an appointment at the local health centre but her concerns fell on deaf ears.
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Clare said: “The doctor obviously did not agree with my suspicions as I was given the number of the Samaritans help line, a prescription for beta blockers [for anxiety] and told to make an appointment for the following Tuesday for blood tests.
“This was on a Friday and Tuesday seemed so far away.”
Clare said she was having a bath at 2.30am on the Saturday morning just to take the pain of her symptoms away.
And on the Sunday, she woke up with bleeding in her mouth and a huge, swollen bruise on her thigh.
She rang Craigavon Hospital and was advised to go to A&E where blood tests were taken.
Clare said: “The results came back very quickly and when both a doctor and nurse came to talk to me. I just knew it was serious.
“I was advised to go to the City Hospital in Belfast right away and on arrival was met by a consultant and nurse who admitted me immediately and broke the news that I might have leukaemia.
“I cried and the first stupid question I asked was, ‘Am I going to lose my hair?’ My thinking was that if I lost my hair, the girls would know I was really ill, so I would have to tell them the truth.”
Clare claims she was told that had she waited until Tuesday for the blood tests, she may not have survived.
The mum started intense chemotherapy straight away for seven months, to September 2018.
But in December of the same year, tests showed her leukaemia had already come back, and she was back in hospital by January 2019 for chemo.
A “devastated” Clare stayed in hospital for three months.
Her next treatment option was a stem cell transplant, which is used to treat conditions in which the bone marrow is damaged and is no longer able to produce healthy blood cells.
The extremely invasive procedure involves taking healthy stem cells from a donor – ideally a close family member with similar genetics – and transferring them to the patient.
Clare’s sister, Alison, was luckily a 100 per cent match for a stem cell transplant.
And so Clare went through the life-saving procedure in April 2019.
Writing on Facebook, Clare said was critically ill after the transplant and was in ICU for over a week, during which time her family were told she may not survive.
But thankfully, due to the support of her family, Clare pulled through and was out of hospital by May.
She said: “I am so grateful to everyone who helped me, giving me more precious time with my girls.
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“On the 15th of this month, I will be three years post-transplant. I call this my other birthday, so I will be three.”
Clare spends all her time taking care of daughters Lily 13, and Meabh, 10.
