
18 Oct 2024
A man of steel who everyone adored: John’s story
New drugs to treat leukaemia are developed and put on trial, as a result of research, all the time. John benefitted from one of them, which extended his life for over a year. And the father of three was also adamant that in taking it, he hoped information from his case would eventually be used to further research.

John celebrating a special occasion
“We’d moved to Anglesey in North Wales in 2019 after he retired from being a technical trainer for a facilities management company,” said John’s wife Cathy, 68. “I was also retired after many years in local government, and we’d always wanted to move from St Helen’s near Manchester to live by the sea. Just before the start of the pandemic in February 2020 we had a night away at a hotel and both got tummy bugs. Mine cleared up immediately but John’s dragged on. So he went to the GP who gave him a blood test.
“They found an anomaly in his white blood cells. They tested a month later and it was the same result. Then came lockdown. Eventually we got a consultation on the phone with a haematologist in Bangor Hospital in North Wales who said they’d do the test again at the end of the year. They mentioned blood cancer and said that our blood is like a lawn full of green grass – when leukaemia comes you start to see weeds in the lawn. He said we can’t see any weeds with you yet but you’re right on the edge.”
John, who was 71 at the time, went back to the hospital for a follow up test in January 2021. He was also given a bone marrow biopsy and then officially diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
“We were so shocked and scared. How could this happen to a fit and healthy man?,” said Catherine. “We felt it was a death sentence. John had no other illnesses or conditions. He was fit and well prior to being diagnosed. Then they told us we would need to wait until March to start treatment because covid was peaking at the time. They reassured us they’d caught it very early, and John had no symptoms.”
John tolerated two rounds of chemotherapy treatment extremely well, with no side effects. But the consultant then told him that it hadn’t worked as well as expected and wanted to try a more aggressive chemotherapy drug. John went back to Bangor Hospital in May 2021 to start his treatment.
“During this course of treatment (Daunorubicin and Cytarabine) he was extremely unwell. He had several serious infections, he lost his hair, and it was a frightening time. I wasn’t able to visit him at first because of visiting restrictions around covid, although as the weeks went by I was able to sit outside in the hospital garden with him.”
John returned home at the end of August and celebrated his 72nd birthday on 2nd September. He was due to start a second round of the same drug treatment the next day. But there was devastating news from his consultant – they had discussed his case with doctors at the Christie Hospital in Manchester who said they felt the first round of the more aggressive treatment hadn’t worked as well as they’d hoped. They felt a second round would be too much for John, and he was too old to be considered for a bone marrow transplant.
“They told us he would not be offered any further treatment. He was now considered terminal and given just a few months to live.”
Two days after being told this terrible news, John contracted covid. He was extremely unwell, and Cathy struggled to get him the treatment he needed both for the virus and to manage his leukaemia which by that time had started to show symptoms.
“It took three presentations to A&E and me having to liaise with his haematology team to get him admitted to hospital and given the blood transfusions he needed as well as being treated for covid. He was really very ill but once they started the transfusions incredibly he started to get stronger. It was against all the odds. Me and our three children used to call him the man of steel – superman! Nothing was knocking him down.
“It did though take all our emotional strength to try to come to terms with the terminal diagnosis. But then there was some good news. There was a drug trial on offer at the Christie Hospital and John was accepted onto a trial which started in November 2021. He’d lost about ten pounds by the time it started but incredibly – and this lasted all the way through – to look at him you really still wouldn’t have thought there was anything wrong with him.”

John responded to treatments well initially
For the next 15 months John had a chemotherapy injection every six weeks and was given the trial drug as a daily tablet. He was stable and relatively well although did have some side effects from the chemotherapy.
“He dealt with the side effects as best he could, and we tried to live as normal a life as possible but all the while mindful of him catching covid. He did get covid again, despite having all his vaccinations, but was able to get the monoclonal antibody drug and that got rid of the covid within three days.
“In July 2022 having sold our house in North Wales we moved back to St Helen’s so John could be nearer to the Christie Hospital and we could be near our family. Our three children all played a huge part in supporting us throughout John’s illness. This made getting treatment so much easier. He was thankful to be moving to a new house and even managed to do a few little DIY jobs – which he loved. We took some nice breaks in hotels and life felt relatively normal, just punctuated by blood transfusions and injections.”
But in February 2023 John and Cathy were given the heartbreaking news that the drug had stopped working.
“We were warned the drug would stop working eventually. The cancer learns to get around it apparently. From March 2023 onwards he had very many spells in hospital with different infections. His haematologist eventually put him on daily antibiotics to try to keep him as well as possible and that kept him out of hospital for three weeks which was a miracle. But on 9th November 2023 he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and passed away on the 14th November at the age of 74.
“He was such a lovely man. We were married for 34 years – a second marriage for both of us – and everyone adored him. The nurses in the hospital loved him – he was always so brave and positive and was a model patient. They cried when he died. John was a very active man who loved DIY and gardening. We had a great life prior to his illness and a good social life which we tried to maintain during his treatment.
“I just coped as best I could. My doctor prescribed anti-anxiety medication, but I had amazing people around me who supported us both. I couldn’t have done any of it without them.
“John used to say I am an old fella with this disease but kids get it as well. He went into the drug trial hoping it would help a child. Ultimately, he was lending his body to hopefully benefit other people. I hope in the future research finds out why some people don’t respond to chemotherapy. Raising the profile of leukaemia will help keep money coming in and hopefully one day everyone will have the chance of remission.”

John with his wife Catherine in happier times
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