'I was diagnosed with blood cancer at 37 – I survived but lost 8cm in height'

04 September 2023 , 10:23

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Sarah Myers, 42, said she was shocked to discover that she had shrunk

A woman has shared the tell-tale signs of blood cancer after she ended up losing 8cm in height due to a delayed diagnosis.

Sarah Myers, from Bedford, said by the time she was diagnosed with myeloma, some of her vertebrae had collapsed which caused her to become shorter. Her more general symptoms such as shortness of breath and repeated infections, were initially diagnosed as asthma. The HR consultant was diagnosed in 2018, a year after she first started to notice something was wrong at the age of 37. As time went on she developed holes in the bones of her sternum, pelvis and legs.

Sarah, now 42, is currently on her third line of treatment and had to go under the knife to stabilise her thigh bone (femur) following damage caused by the cancer. Now, she is raising awareness about the condition and is encouraging people to follow their instincts. She said: "You know your own body and when things aren’t right with it.

"If you feel something isn’t right – an infection isn’t getting better, or the pain has been hanging around for too long – you really need to push for a second opinion or to see a specialist. Keep pressing if you’re not happy with the answers you’ve been given. Be really dogged about getting that diagnosis."

Sarah has urged people to 'keep pressing' for answers

The consultant is now on her third round of treatment

She continued: "When I was diagnosed and they measured me, I remember thinking, ‘That’s not my height’. I was 5ft 8in previously and I’m noticeably shorter now. I try to be stoic about my illness but some days it’s really tough. I went undiagnosed for a long time. If it had been diagnosed sooner, perhaps the damage to my bones wouldn’t have been so significant." Despite being the third most common type of blood cancer, myeloma is frequently missed, as its symptoms, including back pain, easily broken bones, fatigue and recurring infection, are vague and often linked to general ageing or minor conditions. Half of patients wait over five months to be diagnosed, reports Bedfordshire Live.

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Sarah with her partner Lee Bennett

One in four patients wait more than 10 months for a diagnosis. These are some of the longest delays out of any cancer in the UK. While it is incurable, myeloma is treatable in the majority of cases. Treatment is aimed at controlling the disease, relieving the complications and symptoms it causes, and extending and improving patients’ quality of life. A simple blood test can, in most cases, pick up signs of myeloma. Myeloma UK Chief Executive Dr Sophie Castell said: "The most important thing people can do is rule themselves out by checking their symptoms and, if anything isn’t right, go see their GP.

"The symptoms of myeloma are vague and can often seem unrelated or appear at different times, so if you think there's more to it than run-of-the-mill tiredness, a pulled muscle or old age – and if your symptoms just aren’t going away – please keep pushing or ask for a second opinion. It might take more than one appointment for your doctor to put the pieces of the puzzle together." During the pandemic, myeloma saw a drop in diagnoses, with confirmed cases down by 851 compared to pre-COVID expectations.

Monica Charsley