A dad's pains that were dismissed as "old age" turned out to be incurable blood cancer.
Hugh Mansfield had been complaining of severe bone and hip pain for months before he eventually collapsed and was rushed to A&E on May 10.
The 65-year-old had spoken to his GP numerous times beforehand, but his symptoms were dismissed as "old age", YorkshireLive reports.
Three days after being admitted to the hospital, he was told he had myeloma, an incurable blood cancer.
His daughter Clare Day said the news felt like a "sledgehammer blow".
The 39-year-old said: "He received several life-saving blood transfusions and emergency treatment, for which we are very grateful for.
“Unfortunately, he’s in the late stages of his illness. Looking back, he had symptoms for a long time but his GP was quite dismissive and said it was all-natural ageing."
She added: "He had colds and infections every winter for three years and he’d generally been struggling."
"We didn’t connect all the jigsaw pieces and neither did his GP.”
Myeloma occurs in the bone marrow and currently affects over 24,000 people in the UK.
Sign up for our daily newsletter to keep up to date with all the essential information at www.mirror.co.uk/email .
It is the third most common type of blood cancer, but it is difficult to detect because its symptoms - like back pain, easily broken bones and fatigue - are often linked to general ageing or minor conditions.
It is incurable but in the majority of cases, treatment can be aimed at controlling the disease, relieving the complications and symptoms it causes and extending and improving quality of life.
More than half of patients face a wait of over five months to receive the right diagnosis and around a third are diagnosed through an emergency route.
By that point, many of them are experiencing severe or life-threatening symptoms.
The dad-of-three, from Andover, is now undergoing chemotherapy. He is due to receive a stem cell transplant early next year.
To raise awareness and money for charity Myeloma UK, Clare took part in the 20 for 20 challenge, a national fundraising campaign aimed at supporting patients with rare cancers.
The challenge involved Clare mastering 20 yoga poses in 20 days between September 20 and October 9.
She now hopes others will follow in her footsteps.
She said: "Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on Myeloma UK's fundraising events and activities right across the UK and many have been put on hold or cancelled altogether so I really wanted to help.
“When my dad was diagnosed this year it felt like a sledgehammer blow. Myeloma UK has been invaluable to us as a family.
"The charity’s information and news stream has been so useful to find out about treatment. We’re so grateful that there’s a charity out there doing fantastic work and helping people with myeloma.”
The 20 for 20 challenge proved not only a great way to raise funds for Myeloma UK but has allowed Clare to process her pain and bond with her dad, by sending him daily updates and photos of the poses she’d mastered.
The charity is now inviting people across the UK to support 20 lesser-known charities by completing the challenge anytime between September 20 and December 20.
Participants can choose to run, cycle, bake, knit, or whatever tickles their fancy and either donate any funds raised to a specific organisation, like Myeloma UK or donate to a group pot to be divvied up between all 20 partner charities.
Clare is hoping to raise £500 for Myeloma UK and if you would like to donate to Clare’s JustGiving page, you can do so here.
