06 May 2026

“It was all taken away from me in the blink of an eye”

Ayley Crawford before her diagnosis, feeling ill on her birthday

At just 19 years old, Ayley Crawford was thrilled to be studying for her dream career.

She’d just started her nursing degree at Glasgow Caledonian University, gone on her first holiday with friends and was enjoying life with her boyfriend Riley. But in March 2024 she started to feel as if something wasn’t right. She had colds and sinus infections she couldn’t shake off, felt tired all the time and started to lose weight. Sometimes she felt so weak she struggled to stand up. Then she began fainting, which happened the first time in her practical nursing exam. Ayley found it difficult to keep food and drink down. The final straw was a painful abscess under her arm.

“At that point I called a doctor,” said Ayley, who lives in Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. “But the appointment was a week away. I couldn’t wait so I went to the NHS out of hours clinic and was given antibiotics which fortunately made the abscess go away. But I kept the GP appointment as I wanted to ask about the fainting episode.

“The GP took a blood test and that night they phoned to say my glucose levels were off and they suspected diabetes. I went the next day to A&E at University Hospital Wishaw and had lots of scans and tests which confirmed high glucose levels and found severe anaemia. The consultants weren’t sure what was going on and so I was admitted for five days, where I was hardly seen by any healthcare professionals. I was sent home with three weeks of folic acid and told to come back for follow up bloods in three weeks’ time.”

After this next round of blood tests Ayley was told to come to the medical day unit at the hospital for the results and on 23rd May 2024. She was told she had leukaemia.

“I fainted when I was told and I just thought straight away that I’m going to die. I immediately had an image in my head of someone very poorly attached to tubes who I thought I would end up like.”

Ayley was transferred to the Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow where she waited for a week before it was confirmed she had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with the NPM1-FLT3 mutation. She started the first of four cycles of IV chemotherapy, followed each time by chemotherapy in tablet form.

“For my first cycle I wasn’t allowed to leave the ward for six weeks. But my second cycle I received as an outpatient using a continuous pump that was attached to my PICC Line and a bag which I

Ayley during her stem cell transplant

carried. My last two cycles were inpatient as I had a stronger dose of the same drug. I had a few episodes of nausea and lost some of my hair but I was still in pretty high spirits throughout my treatment. I think I was still in denial. It was a long time away from home stuck in the same room for six weeks at the beginning and then again for my last two cycles but I knew I had to get through it.”

Ayley was told she was in remission in November 2024.

“I was so excited to grab normality again. I’d gone back to my old restaurant job part time, went on several holidays and was hoping to go back to uni in September 2025. But just as everything started to return to normal in March 2025 I had a routine bone marrow biopsy and they found I’d relapsed. I was just devastated that all that work felt like it was for nothing. I remember saying to my auntie before the test ‘I feel great so I’m sure it will be fine’. It was such a shock.”

Ayley was told her next step would be a stem cell transplant. A match was found with a 21-year-old male donor from Australia. Ayley prepared for the transplant with oral outpatient chemotherapy followed by subcutaneous injections which was still able have as an outpatient. In July 2025 she was admitted to hospital in Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Ayley during treatment

“Going through transplant was honestly the worst thing I’ve ever endured. I was comparing it to my first course of treatment and thought it would be the same but it couldn’t have been more different. Most of it is a blur but I remember feeling spaced out most of the time. I got really bad mucositis – painful inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract – so didn’t eat or drink for four weeks which lead to significant weight loss. I wasn’t allowed out of my room for five weeks so I wasn’t moving and also I wasn’t well enough to get out of bed anyway. I was allowed just three visitors – my Mum, Riley and my friend Melissa – and they all had to wear masks and aprons. I experienced loss of muscle mass which I am still building back now eight and a half months later.”

After her transplant Ayley returned home to start a lengthy recovery, supported by her mum and Riley.

“I was still so weak. Even walking from my bedroom to the bathroom next door felt too much. I was taking an oral FLT3 inhibitor called Sorafenib which gave me a really bad sunburn-type rash. Just wearing pyjamas my skin rubbed off, and it was red, swollen and painful. They readmitted me after three weeks and gave me steroids which calmed it down eventually. They switched me to a different FLT3 inhibitor called Quizartinib but as soon as they put the dose up I developed massive swelling around my eyes which almost closed up. It took around a month to heal and really knocked my confidence to the extent I didn’t want to leave the house. It was very hard for me dealing with how I looked as a young woman at that time.

Ayley with her boyfriend Riley

“Thankfully I had Riley, who I’ve had by my side since we were at school. He doesn’t understand the medical terms but is just always there for me. Day 100 in November was a big milestone and I spent a nice Christmas with my family. As I couldn’t take any of the inhibitors anymore they had to start me on donor lymphocyte infusions in April 2026 to promote my body to make more of the new lymphocytes. I also get these due to a mixed chimerism – a mix of my own cells and my donor’s cells coexisting in my body – which I’m hoping will resolve. Even now it feels never ending with all the medication and appointments.

“I am in remission now but the anxiety around relapse never leaves no matter how much I try to ignore it. Thankfully the cells coming from my bone marrow are all the donor’s. I’ve only just started my childhood vaccines which were supposed to be in January but were postponed due to medication side effects. This now means I can mix more and get back to work. I’m planning to go back to uni in September 2026 and do some travelling this summer. I was seeing my hospital team and getting bloods taken twice every week but now they have been reduced to every two or three weeks. The constant appointments are draining but I’m grateful that my team keep on top of things.

Ayley before her diagnosis

“My experience with leukaemia has impacted my life massively. I was a 19-year-old finding my feet in the adult world after leaving school and going on girls’ holidays. I had just started my dream nursing degree at university and was loving life going out at the weekends with my friends.

“It was all taken away from me in the blink of an eye. I have missed out on two years of uni which I was supposed to be graduating from this year, lots of holidays and countless days/nights out. I feel so behind.

“But the one good thing to come of it all is that I think it will make me a better nurse. I was really glad I was studying nursing as it made the medical terms so much easier and I was actually really interested in what was going on. I could explain it clearly to friends and relatives as I’d had to explain to patients before. Every ward I was on the nurses wanted me to come and join them once I was qualified. So I may go into oncology – although it could be very triggering so I’m not sure at the moment. My main aim right now is to get back to uni and I’m hoping to catch up on all my missed time.”