A mother of two from the West Midlands who was diagnosed with incurable blood cancer after a sore throat has said she feels "lucky" to be alive 16 years later. Deb Gascoyne, 50, from Hagley, was diagnosed with smouldering myeloma, an early form of blood cancer, in July 2009, aged 34, after a precautionary blood test.
Miss Gascoyne, who worked in human resources, had visited her GP with a persistent sore throat that felt like "a golf ball in my throat" and left her "wiped out" every month. She said a nurse's last-minute decision to send off bloods that day led to her early diagnosis. Further tests, including scans and a bone marrow biopsy, confirmed the condition.
Feeling "totally shellshocked" after being told she was too young for such a diagnosis, she faced fears of not seeing her children grow up after reading life expectancy statistics of two to five years. About a year later, her myeloma progressed to active cancer, and she underwent chemotherapy as part of the Myeloma XI trial in 2010. She received her first stem cell transplant in July 2011 and remained in partial remission for eight years.
Since her diagnosis, Miss Gascoyne has raised £248,100 for the charity Myeloma UK, with a goal of reaching £250,000. Her final fundraising challenge will be a cycle ride from London to Paris in May. She said she threw herself into fundraising because she "needed to take control of something", starting with the Yorkshire Three Peaks with family and friends.
Despite facing two relapses, she has witnessed key milestones in her children's lives, including her daughter becoming a paramedic and her son turning 19. Miss Gascoyne, who has experienced survivor's guilt, said: "I am really lucky and really blessed to have seen them through all of that."
