ADVERTISEMENT Life is full of stressful situations that we have to overcome. From getting a job to buying a house, choosing our child’s future school to planning our wedding. No matter what the situation, stress affects everyone differently. Some people take a nice long bubble bath and feel better. Others go for a nice long walk to clear their heads. However, for some people, stress can be much more damaging, making them ill and exhausted, but what if the illness actually isn’t because of stress? The perfect life Kate Stallard was a bright and healthy woman from Worcestershire, England. At just 32-years-old, Kate had been dreaming about starting a family. She had been with her partner ten years and had been married to him for 18 months. Kate was excited to have children with her beau, and begin the family she had always dreamed of. However, before she got to see this dream come to fruition, Kate got divorced. For the following months, Kate struggled to come to terms with being single after more than a decade in a relationship.

Time on her side What got Kate through the incredibly difficult time of her life was the knowledge that she was still in her early thirties. She would regularly remind herself that she was still young, and had plenty of time to meet someone new and start her family. It was a struggle for Kate, especially considering her strong desire to have children as soon as possible. However, she held out hope that it wouldn’t be long before she met a new man and could fulfill her dreams.

Worrying symptoms Despite reassuring herself, Kate couldn’t help but feel overcome with stress. She hadn’t been single in over a decade, and coming to terms with her divorce was tough. She experienced painful headaches frequently, and found herself so exhausted that she could barely even walk her dogs. Kate had previously worked for her husband meaning that along with her divorce also came job loss. She was under a considerable amount of stress, so Kate put her symptoms down as stress-related and soldiered on.

Relieving the stress Kate decided the best thing for her stress would be to go to the gym. She gathered that if she started exercising regularly and keeping active, she could rid of the breathlessness and feel better and more energetic in herself. It didn’t work. Kate’s breathing actually worsened, and she started finding bruises all over her. She must have been too clumsy for weightlifting and been knocking herself with the weights without noticing. At this point, Kate began to doubt the benefits of going to the gym.

Seeking medical help Surely there must have been a cause of her problems, besides stress, or maybe that was just it? Kate sought out the help of a nutritionist, with the belief that her lack of energy, which didn’t seem to be improving, was down to a poor diet. She also went to see a dentist, worried about painful gums and mouth ulcers which had appeared and were particularly troubling her. Kate couldn’t understand how it could be anything other than stress, but she thought it wise to check.

Looking for a prognosis Nothing improved for Kate’s health and she finally thought it was time to see a doctor. Her periods had become unnaturally heavy, and the bruises were now appearing in unusual places, like the backs of her hands. It was then that Kate realized that they couldn’t have been from gym injuries. One of Kate’s relatives had suffered from Aplastic Anemia. Now, Kate was wary that she might have it, too. The doctor quickly dismissed her symptoms as stress, like she had previously thought.

Wanting more tests Kate wasn’t sure whether or not to accept the diagnosis, thinking it must be more than just stress. She asked for a blood test to double check, but the doctor reassured her that it wasn’t worth it. Plus, being a non-urgent case would mean that she’d be waiting a week for an appointment. Kate accepted the doctor’s prognosis and returned home. She still wasn’t completely sold, because her symptoms had gone on for so long and had only worsened, but she had no choice but to trust the doctor.

Phoning for help Within a few days, Kate’s health went dramatically downhill. She became weak, and one night found herself crawling up the stairs. Kate suddenly became nervous that something would happen to her and no one would know. Kate made a phone call to the doctor’s out of hours service where she told them what was happening. Fortunately for Kate, this phone call came just in time. Just moments after hanging up the phone, she collapsed in the bathroom.Kate had to get to the 1am emergency doctor’s appointment that she had just managed to book.

A thorough examination When she arrived at the hospital, the nurses took one look at Kate and knew straight away that something was up. They checked each of Kate’s bruises and sent her off for urgent blood tests. They told her that these were not symptoms of just stress and that something far more complex was going on beneath the surface. Eventually, Kate was sent home to await a phone call with the blood test results, where they could then discuss what would happen from there if she needed treatment.

The phone call Around two hours after returning home, Kate’s phone rang. It was the hospital. She answered, terrified of what she’d be told. The nurse told her that she was seriously ill and needed to return to the hospital immediately. They offered her an ambulance, but Kate declined. Instead, Kate asked her sister, Lindsay, to take her. Did she have Aplastic Anemia like she feared? She worried the entire journey to the hospital, not knowing what to expect when she arrived.

The start of tests Kate spent a short amount of time on a ward, before being moved to isolation for tests. She had a blood transfusion almost immediately upon arrival at the hospital. They also took a bone marrow biopsy and performed many other tests. This was it; Kate was sure she was anemic. All those months of putting her symptoms down as stress, and actually she was missing something so much worse. She had an influx of sadness, fear, and anger, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

Her world fell apart After several tests, the nurses returned with her results, and they were so much worse than she could have ever imagined. Kate had Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. In that little room, Kate’s whole world came crashing down. She was also told that alongside cancer, she had developed sepsis, where she had picked up a bug while her immune system was weak. She remained in the hospital for six weeks – something she was not even remotely prepared for. At least she now had an explanation for all of her ‘stress-related’ symptoms.

Learning the details Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia is a rare form of Leukemia where the body cannot make enough normal blood cells. It is categorized by severe headaches, unusual bruising, and heaving bleeding, all of which were part of Kate’s symptoms. In the United States, the condition only affects roughly one in 250,000 people. Needless to say, Kate was devastated at having developed such a condition, but she was reassured that she would recover. However, it would be after a long, troublesome journey.

The heartbreaking news What really brought the Earth down for Kate was when she was given further details. Without treatment, Kate would have had just two days before she would have lost her life to cancer. If that wasn’t bad enough already, she was also told that she needed to have immediate treatment. This meant that there was no time for Kate to freeze any of her eggs before the medication was likely to damage them. Not only was the diagnosis heartbreaking, but now her dreams of starting a family were shattered too.

Holding out hope Kate held out for the slim chance that the chemotherapy wouldn’t damage her eggs, and that she’d be one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, even with hormone treatments, Kate’s eggs were not suitable. Kate’s dreams were destroyed there and then as she was learned the news she was completely infertile. For Kate, this was the worst side effect of all. While she was often reminded of other possibilities, like adoption, Kate just could not shake the grief of losing one of the most important things to her.

Friendly faces During Kate’s six painful weeks in the hospital, many of her friends came to visit her. They all brought books, toiletries, and clothes for Kate, in an attempt to keep her occupied and make her feel more at home. She thoroughly appreciated the gesture and enjoyed their company. Kate struggled to look up for her future following the string of heart-wrenching diagnoses given to her, but her friends kept her feeling as positive as she could while she underwent weeks of treatment.

Calling for help It wasn’t long before Kate was eventually discharged and continued going for treatment as an outpatient. Although Kate was thrilled to be back home, she still struggled to care for herself. One day, she fell out of her attic after the ladder slipped. She went straight back to the hospital but luckily had not broken any bones or done any further damage to her body. At this point, she realized that she needed help. Kate had her friends check up on her frequently, and take her to and from the hospital for her chemotherapy sessions.

Remission at last After three cycles of chemotherapy, Kate’s time in the hospital had finally paid off: She was in remission at last. Kate could finally begin to get her life back. She couldn’t wait to start getting out and about again and getting back to her old self. Kate was still relatively weak from all the therapy and side effects, so her friends still came by to help her whenever they could until Kate recovered fully. Whether she still needed assistance or not, though, she was overjoyed at the news.

More symptoms Not long after, Kate’s health took a devastating turn for the worst. Some symptoms returned. She felt dizzy and weak and began losing her vision. She knew that she had to return to the hospital immediately – she had learned her lesson about waiting. Kate was taken for more tests, and the nurses told her that the leukemia had returned. Tragically, Kate saw everything crash down yet again. This time, the cancer was in her central nervous system, and it was back with a vengeance.

Treatment again Kate underwent another 17 weeks of chemotherapy and treatment. This was arguably harder than the first time because she thought she had finally rid herself of it. She had a lumbar puncture to administer medication into her spinal fluid. Kate also had to have a stem cell transplant. However, after many more months of agonizing pain and heartbreak, Kate was finally pronounced ‘in remission’ once again. Kate has since had three-monthly scans to check up on her, and all has been good so far.