A WOMAN whose father and grandmother were diagnosed with the same incurable blood cancer three months apart tackling the Belfast marathon in aid of the charity which helped her family.
Melissa Patton's father Robert was 57 when he was diagnosed with myeloma, which claims more than 3,000 lives in the UK annually.
He had been complaining from aches and pains, which his family jokingly dismissed as old age.
However, his symptoms worsened and by the time he was diagnosed with advanced cancer in July 2019, his kidney function was just 20 per cent and his bones were so badly damaged doctors feared he might become paralysed.
"We weren’t sure he was going to live past a couple of months," Ms Patton said.
Three months later her maternal grandmother, Jean Meneely was also diagnosed with myeloma.
The cancer occurs in the bone marrow and is difficult to detect with symptoms - including back pain, easily broken bones, fatigue and recurring infection - often mistaken general ageing or?minor?conditions.
More than half of patients wait more than five months for a diagnosis, with a third?not finding out until experiencing severe or life-threatening symptoms.
"It's been scary, you're wondering what is going to happen next, but as a family we're trying not to dwell on things too much," Ms Patton (29) said.
Her "super active" father's diaphragm collapsed during intense chemotherapy leaving him "confined to the bedroom and... struggling to get down the stairs".
"He can't walk too far without struggling to breathe. It's been hard."
He is now in remission and Ms Patton running along with 14 Barclay Communications colleagues to raise £1,700 for Myeloma UK.
"When Myeloma UK first started, patients could only expect to survive 12 to 24 months but, with the research and development Myeloma UK has done in the last two decades, the survival rate is now between four and eight years."
:: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/barclay-communications-myeloma.
