'my Long Covid Turned Out To Be Terminal Cancer'

A erstwhile triathlete whose terminal crab was initially mistaken for agelong Covid has been fixed months to live.

Olivia Knowles, from Blackpool, noticed thing "wasn't rather correct" successful August 2023 while competing successful nan Half Ironman World Championship successful Lahti, Finland.

The two-mile aquatics and 56-mile rhythm went smoothly but she added she "just wasn't capable to push arsenic difficult arsenic [she] usually would" during nan 13-mile (20-km) tally to nan decorativeness line.

The 33-year-old went to a backstage expert successful November 2023 and was told it was "very apt to beryllium agelong Covid", earlier utmost toothache days later prompted an emergency infirmary sojourn and a test of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).

She said aft a bid of relapses and months of curen complete nan people of past year, she had received a stem compartment transplant successful December and had been declared cancer-free.

However, conscionable a week later, successful early March this year, Ms Knowles was fixed nan "bitter" news nan leukaemia had returned.

The hairsbreadth salon owner, whose "typical weekend" earlier her test progressive 100-mile motorcycle rides and 15-mile runs, walked 20 miles astir Fairhaven Lake connected 16 March to raise costs for objective investigation astatine King's College Hospital.

She said she hoped immoderate donations would amended investigation connected AML, a peculiarly fierce crab which, she said, had not seen immoderate "solid advancements" successful curen for 50 years.

"I ever thought that relapse would beryllium a existent possibility, but obviously, I conscionable didn't expect it to beryllium truthful soon," she said.

"All I really miss now is going to activity and training. That's each I want – conscionable my normal time and my normal routine.

"It mightiness sound overseas to immoderate people, but I would conscionable emotion to return nan canine for a tally and spell to work, much than anything."

With AML, she explained: "Even if there's a speck of it left, it conscionable regrows.

"And what regrows is fundamentally nan resistant cells, nan ones that person evaded and resisted nan erstwhile chemo."

Ms Knowles' advisor astatine Blackpool Victoria Hospital had fixed her 3 options – effort to get a transplant contempt her relapse, subordinate a objective proceedings aliases "do nothing".

In November, aft various unsuccessful trials, Olivia was fixed a caller Car-T curen – immunotherapy which genetically modifies a patient's T-cells to onslaught cancer.

The curen astatine King's College Hospital successful London was followed by nan stem compartment transplant.

"The first bony marrow findings were excellent," she said.

"There were nary signs of disease. It was a really affirmative consequence astatine first."

Last month, she was readmitted pinch gut issues, a communal broadside effect of stem compartment transplants, but humor tests "showed progressive disease".

Ms Knowles said her advisor had been "blindsided" by her relapse, because nan transplant had gone truthful well.

While location pinch her mum Susan and dada Stephen, she decided "on a small spot of a whim" to locomotion a marathon astir Fairhaven Lake to raise costs for nan objective investigation squad astatine King's.

The erstwhile triathlete was forced to extremity aft 20 miles but still raised much than £25,000.

She hopes nan money will lend to "solid advancements", saying nan squad astatine King's were "on nan cusp of thing fantabulous pinch their improvement of Car-T curen for AML".

"For them to person thing that tin thief dainty children, it gives you a spot much hope," she said.