24-year-old Iona Beastall was in her final year of university when she received the first of two life-changing diagnoses.
At 20, she was told she had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; an aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system.
Her life was put on hold as she attended hospital appointments and came to terms with the diagnosis.
Iona’s body fortunately responded well to the treatment and she was able to return to the University of Leeds and her international business course in 2020, according to Metro.
During Covid-19, she was forced to shield due to her immune system being compromised by chemotherapy, but remained in good health for months.
But in early 2021, she woke up one day with severe abdominal pain.
Iona, from Kingston-upon-Thames, said: ‘It was a Friday and my GP organised an appointment for the following Monday, but as the day progressed it just so much worse.
‘My sister’s a doctor, and eventually she said we need to go to A&E. When my blood test results came back, she took one look at them and burst into tears.’
More blood tests were carried out overnight and, the next morning, Iona was given the shocking news that she had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
‘I couldn’t tell you a thing the doctor said,’ recalled Iona. ‘I just burst into tears. I couldn’t comprehend it.’
AML is a type of blood cancer which can affect anyone of any age.
She continued: ‘I was told about the possibility of getting secondary cancers down the line, however, the chances were so small. To develop a therapy-related leukaemia was about a 1-2% chance, so I never believed it would really happen to me.’
Iona returned to Royal Marsden hospital where she had been treated for Hodgkin’s to immediately begin intensive chemotherapy.
‘I went from being a relatively independent university student who could go out whenever I wanted, to having round the clock care with doctors and nurses checking in on me every few hours,’ said Iona.
‘Either my mum or dad was with me every single day in hospital, from the moment I woke up until I went to sleep. I knew that if I was by myself, I would spiral. I just didn’t want to feel alone.’
To give her the best possible chance of a full recovery, Iona had a stem cell transplant after chemotherapy.
However, the steroids Iona has since taken have recently caused yet another traumatic diagnosis – avascular necrosis (the death of bone tissue due to a lack of blood supply).
She is now regularly taking a new treatment which should help rebuild her bone tissue.
Unfortunately, if she were to have an AML-related relapse in the future, Iona has now undergone so much chemotherapy that she has reached the limit for one particular drug.
This means that if she were to relapse, she would be desperate for a newer and more effective form of treatment – hopefully one that can be as effective as the chemotherapy but without the strain that it puts on the human body.
The 24-year-old is now supporting Leukaemia UK’s call for greater funding into leukaemia research to find new and effective treatments, which will be her best hope of recovery in the event of future relapse.
