A Wiltshire woman says that treatment for blood cancer has come on “leaps and bounds” in the past 21 years.
Jane Catchpole, from Wroughton, was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in 2004 and said she had no symptoms when the cancer was found as a result of a bi-annual blood test.
Ms Catchpole, who is now in remission, says new treatments are also much gentler on the body.
She has been sharing her experience as part of Blood Cancer UK’s blood cancer awareness month. The charity says it is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, with more than 280,000 people across the country currently living with it.
There are more than 40 types of blood cancers, the charity said, divided into five broad groups including forms of leukaemia and lymphoma.
Ms Catchpole said: “I just lived with it for a good number of years really and my lymphocyte count sort of steadily rose through the years.
“In some people they can really jump rapidly and if they double in six months then that’s sort of a red flag kind of thing.”
Ms Catchpole says people can live for years without treatment. “When I was diagnosed in 2004, I was given a prognosis of about 10 years.
“Treatments have come on leaps and bounds from just chemotherapy.
“We’ve now got seven new immunotherapy and targeted therapies, which are much gentler on the body, give just as good, if not better, results than chemo.”
Ms Catchpole says she has learned to live with the cancer and keep an eye on it.
“It’s called active monitoring but patients tend to call it ‘watch and wait’ or ‘watch and worry’, we sort of live from one blood test to the next – you can live well.”