BBC General
Posted on 09/06/2022 08:21
(Credit: Sophie Wheldon)
Four years ago, when Sophie Wheldon was still a student, she received the news that she was in “huge shock” when she found out that she had leukemia.
Now she advises people to recognize the symptoms of the disease.
Sophie, a 24yearold British woman, believes persistent breast infections, headaches and neck pain were caused by stress during her studies.
But after seeing a doctor, she was diagnosed with leukemia in 2018.
According to the National Cancer Institute (Inca), leukemia is a malignant disease of white blood cells, mostly of unknown origin. Its main feature is the accumulation of diseased cells in the bone marrow, which replace normal blood cells.
According to the UK organization Leukemia UK, less than 1% of people can recognize the symptoms of the disease, despite the fact that 28 people are diagnosed with this type of cancer every day in the country.
According to the World Cancer Research Fund, around 500,000 people worldwide were diagnosed with leukemia in 2020.
Four of the most commonly reported symptoms are fatigue, bruising, unusual bleeding and repeated infections, according to the charity notes.
Sophie Wheldon Wheldon underwent a therapy called CART
Leukemia UK has partnered with the organization Leukemia Care to educate people about possible symptoms of the disease.
Both organizations emphasize that early diagnosis can save lives.
Wheldon was studying biology in 2018 when she became ill and her doctor advised her to go to the hospital after suggesting the pain she was experiencing in her neck could be meningitis.
The young woman says she went through the emergency room and after the evaluation was immediately transferred to the “acute” patient room, where she underwent blood tests, a fullbody CT scan and “what I now know was a bone marrow biopsy”.
Shortly after the biopsy, her symptoms persisted and she returned for help. It was there that I learned that I was classified as a “terminal patient.”
She was later told that she might be a candidate for a specific type of treatment: CART therapy.
The process involves extracting part of a person’s immune system and white blood cells and reproducing them so that they specifically recognize and attack cancer cells, Wheldon said.
Sophie Wheldon Sophie is currently considered to be in remission for cancer
The young woman claims she was the first person in her region to receive the treatment. And she underwent it the day after her 21st birthday in June 2019.
“When they came back [as células], they were in a small bag. It would save my life,” he says. “It was a 20second infusion it’s crazy to think that’s possible.”
After undergoing regular blood tests, she learned in July 2019 that she was “in complete remission,” which she said was “literally the best day of her life.”
Her immune system has been compromised by the treatment, but she says she is “grateful to be here” and urges people to be on the lookout for signs that could indicate the presence of the disease.
“The symptoms of leukemia can be so vague and easy to miss, but you always have to trust your gut,” he says.
This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional62802595
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