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Mother of five children has been diagnosed with an incurable disease cancer his symptoms were misunderstood perimenopause and he was asked to double it hormone replacement therapy ,hrt) Treatment.
Crystal Portsmouth, 50, had a chronic illness AnaemiaPainful periods and fatigue for years, but she said her GP told her it was due to fibroids – non-cancerous growths in or around the uterus.
social care practitioner from Wiltshire She was asked to try a Mirena coil to reduce heavy bleeding during menstruation, and was given iron tablets for anemia, but her symptoms persisted, and the coil caused a urinary tract infection (UTI).
After the coils were removed, Crystal said her GP thought her symptoms were related to perimenopause and she was prescribed medication. hrtWhich she was later told to double – but when she collapsed at work in April 2023, she learned it was something more serious.
After blood tests, scans and a bone marrow biopsy, it was discovered that she had myeloma, an incurable disease. blood cancerIn July 2024.
His treatment so far has included intensive chemotherapy and stem cell transplant. Crystal’s condition is improving and she is undergoing maintenance chemotherapy, but she has joined blood cancer charity Myeloma UK’s Christmas appeal to help people get an early diagnosis.
Speaking about his diagnosis, he said: “I couldn’t believe it, and I still can’t believe it.
“Every day you wake up, you think it’s a dream and it’s true. Many times we’ve said, ‘When will we wake up?’
“When I look back NHS The app, you think, crikey, it’s screaming… but (the symptoms of myeloma) were never caught.
“I would tell others, learn to listen to your body and don’t push yourself to respond if you feel something isn’t right.”
Crystal said she suffered from heavy periods for years and experienced “floods”, when she would bleed through both tampons and pads, but her GP told her it was due to fibroids.
She said she “hopes that (her) shifts will not fall on (her) period”, but if it does, she will take extra clothes to work in case she has bleeding caused by sanitary products.
“It was embarrassing and I found it difficult to work when I was about to get my period because I was bleeding so much,” she said.
“For years, I suffered from anemia and took iron tablets, but about seven years ago, I was in Tesco and had to leave because of flooding.
“So I went to the doctors and they said the Mirena coil, but then I started getting UTIs and I was constantly on antibiotics.”
After the coil – an intrauterine device inserted into the womb – was removed, she said her GP thought her symptoms were related to perimenopause, and she was prescribed medication. hrt,
During this time, he was also diagnosed with cellulitis – an infection in the deeper layers of the skin – but it was treated with antibiotics.
She said: “I used to think, ‘What’s wrong with my immune system?’ But then you rationalize these things.”
According to Myeloma UK, common symptoms can include pain, fatigue, kidney damage and frequent infections, but with no family history of cancer, Crystal never suspected she might have the disease.
When she started having heavy bleeding, night sweats, along with her periods, she knew it was her “body saying there was something really wrong” – but when she spoke to her GP, she said she was advised to double her HRT.
She didn’t know she needed to seek more help until she fainted at work in April 2023.
“I was standing in the locker room and I fell to the floor,” she said.
“I rolled my ankle, so they took an X-ray of my ankle, and I said, ‘I’m 40 years old. How can I stand still and fall over?'”
He said he later asked for a complete blood count and was referred to the hematology department of the Royal United Hospital (RUH). BathWhere PET and CT scans revealed that Crystal had a pelvic fracture.
She had more blood tests done but she was in “denial” that she might have cancer.
“I thought it was hormonal, I thought maybe it was perimenopause, and maybe it was linked to my menstruation and HRT would make it better, but this was very unusual,” she said.
“I guess after so many years, you don’t know what to think, and when my co-worker said it could be cancer, I just said, ‘No, there’s no cancer in our family, it’s not like that.’
“It was horrible, I was just in denial about it.”
After a bone marrow biopsy, it was confirmed in July 2024 that Crystal had myeloma, and from that moment on her “feet didn’t touch the ground”.
He said that hearing that he had incurable cancer felt like an “out-of-body experience”, but he did not have time to process it because he began intensive treatment almost immediately.
Crystal was enrolled in the RADAR clinical trial at RUH, and received a stem cell transplant in January 2025, but she missed her grandson’s first Christmas due to side effects of her treatment.
Crystal said, “There were all these major events passing in front of me and I was really struggling, but I kept going.”
“Now I’ve finished it and I’m on maintenance, and I have to have an infusion every fortnight.”
She said she felt “angry” for a while, but is now focusing on the present and adjusting to the “new normal.”
She is looking forward to celebrating Christmas with her family and grandchildren, as she was unable to attend the celebrations last year and plans to return to work in a phased manner from next week.
She is also hoping to raise awareness of Myeloma UK, as despite being the third most common type of blood cancer, the charity says myeloma is often overlooked because its symptoms are vague.
Crystal said: “This is not how we imagined our life. Last year we settled ItalyMy husband and I, and we were thinking, ‘The kids are grown up now, it’s you and me’ – and then literally just a week later, I was in hematology at RUH.
“It has changed me and I know that when I go back (to work), I am not the same person I was.
“But I’m trying to get back to some kind of normality after this massive, life-changing diagnosis.
“I’ve found my confidence and I’m used to bouncing back.”
To find out more about Myeloma UK’s Christmas appeal, visit: myeloma.org.uk/xmasappeal.
For more information about myeloma or to contact Myeloma UK, visit myeloma.org.uk Or call its infoline 0800 980 3332.