A young Edinburgh man received a devastating cancer diagnosis after suffering from bleeding gums and noticing strange red freckles on his arms
. Graeme Clark started experiencing the unusual symptoms at the end of 2017. Just weeks later, the 29-year-old was given the heartbreaking news he had acute myeloid leukaemia.
"The rash – called a petechial rash – was a result of not having enough platelets in my body to stop even tiny knocks from bruising my skin, because my blood was unable to clot. The doctor told me that you’re meant to have between 150,000 and 400,000 platelets per microliter of blood and I only had 12,000.
Graeme underwent a gruelling round of chemotherapy before he was eventually discharged - just in time to spent Christmas with his family, including wife Nic. The transplant – which involves replacing bone marrow with healthy cells - took place at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre on 12 April, almost six months after Graeme’s diagnosis. Less than a month later, he had a brand new immune system.
"I’m physically the strongest I’ve ever been, carrying on the discipline I had around exercising throughout my treatment and right now I feel mentally strong. I literally have no health issues, other than that daily pill to deal with the fact I’ve not got a functioning spleen.
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