A 21-year-old woman from Porthcawl is running the Cardiff Half Marathon after she almost had to have her leg amputated following a severe infection that developed during chemotherapy for leukaemia. Kiera Hodges was initially told her symptoms were caused by stress from her GCSEs, but the reality was far more serious.
From GCSE stress to a leukaemia diagnosis
Just before Kiera turned 15, she was in year 10 and beginning her GCSEs. Up until August 2019 she had been a healthy teenager, but during the summer she started experiencing headaches and occasional hip pain. This developed into a rash on the back of her neck and massive fatigue, yet she was repeatedly told she was stressed from school.
Over Christmas her symptoms worsened, and alarm bells were raised when she could not finish her Christmas dinner due to a loss of appetite. “I wasn't even very fussed with chocolate,” she said.
On her first day back after the Christmas holidays, Kiera was on the bus into school when she noticed she was shivering constantly. At first she thought it was just the cold, but when she arrived she realised she had a high fever and went to the doctors, where she had blood tests done.
She recalled: “That was at around 11am and then at 7pm the out-of-hours doctors said you've got to come in and it all just happened so quickly.”
Intense treatment and complications
Kiera was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and was subsequently admitted to the Noah's Ark Children's Hospital for Wales for treatment. “Some of it's still a blur. I declined quite rapidly in the days before I was diagnosed. I felt silly saying 'do I have cancer' as a 14-year-old. As soon as they knew it was leukaemia the chemotherapy started straightaway.”
Another complication came when doctors realised Kiera had an abnormal genetic change found in certain types of blood cancer, known as being Philadelphia positive. This meant they had to alter her treatment to a particularly intensive course. The treatment was incredibly toxic and led to a series of complications, including blood clots and multiple infections.
Kiera said that compared to the younger children on her ward who were quite resilient to the chemo, she had been hit particularly hard. “My routine was being home for a tiny, tiny bit and then back in hospital for a long time. I had a lot of infections which was my main issue. Fortunately I had no signs of leukaemia from the April but the chemotherapy continued and it was too toxic for me. I ended up having two colostomy bags, I almost had to have my leg amputated, and I had blood clots.”
“The first year was very intense. I had three blocks of chemotherapy. When I had the infection in the leg I couldn't let anyone touch me. I had to say to one of the orthopaedic surgeons that I didn't want to hit them but my reflex would be to.”
One of the worst parts of her treatment was when she developed severe mucositis, which caused excruciating pain and led to Kiera needing a colostomy. After a year, it was reversed, but complications meant she needed another stoma before eventually having it reversed again.
Recovery and running for charity
Two years after her diagnosis, Kiera's life finally went slightly back to normal. “I didn't do my GCSEs. In my year, Covid-19 helped with that because no one did any exams. I remember trying to go back in year 12 but I had blood clots and then I caught Covid so it wasn't smooth-sailing.”
Kiera then missed half of her first year of sixth form and was later made head girl in upper sixth, which was her first relatively normal school year for years. “My second year of sixth form was my first normal start in two and a half years. That was my first normal year but I still did have to miss some days for hospital trips and I was still immunosuppressed.”
Having taken her A-levels and secured a place to study Biology at the University of Bath, Kiera is now starting her third year, having recently returned from a placement year in Malawi where she was working in animal conservation with bats. “I came back in June so I had to do some of my training in Malawi. I had to juggle working out how early I could run before the heat kicked in and not going too early so there were hyenas. If you see them the advice is not to run because they will instinctively chase you.”
Now 21, Kiera has yearly check-ups and is cancer-free. However, she is still managing a number of side effects as a result of the chemotherapy. Last September she had surgery on an incisional hernia caused by the colostomy bag, and she is now on the waiting list to have the muscle in the back of her right leg feathered because she has a drop foot.
“I also have drop foot which can cause me to trip and fall over. I actually fractured my foot in my first year of university because I fell over because of the drop foot. Luckily it doesn't cause me to trip when I'm running!” She also struggles with a lot of fatigue and can often experience hip and leg pain.
In recognition of the care and support she experienced from Noah's Ark, Kiera is now running the Cardiff Half Marathon for the charity. She is one of 500 people running for the children's hospital charity this year. Last year they raised over £150,000 at the event alone, but they are already on track to go beyond that figure this time around. “You look at everything I have issues with on paper and probably think I shouldn't be able to run a half marathon but I quite like saying, 'yes I can do that'.”
