
17 Jul 2025
“I didn’t fit the profile for ALL.”
“My experience has completely turned my world upside down. I was a healthy, fit and active person prior to my diagnosis…….I have lost my confidence in my body’s abilities and also myself.”
A leukaemia diagnosis is a shattering experience. But for Tara there was an added challenge for her to come to terms with. Her blood cancer – acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) – is one of the most common childhood cancers, but almost unheard of in her age group. Only 70 cases per year are diagnosed in the UK in 25 to 39 year olds.

Tara before being diagnosed
“The first sign I had that anything was wrong with me was when I went to climb Snowdon for the fourth time with friends,” said Tara, 38, who lives in Romsey in Hampshire and works as a senior health and safety advisor. “It became very clear that I couldn’t keep up with the group and was unable to summit for the first time. It was October 2023 and I’d had a seasonal cold and put it down to that. But it got to the point I was struggling just walking up the stairs. I was also so tired I found myself needing to take a nap in the afternoon.”

Tara hiking before diagnosis
Tara made three trips to the GP about her symptoms.
“The first time I was told I had asthma and they gave me a steroid inhaler. A week later they said they thought I might have had whooping cough and sent me for a blood test and a chest X-ray. Routine bloods were booked for two weeks’ time. But a week after this I deteriorated dramatically over the weekend to the point where I could not get upstairs. I called the GP and pleaded for an emergency appointment and blood work. She agreed something wasn’t right and gave me the blood test. I then received a call the same evening telling me I needed to call an ambulance and get to the hospital right away and they would be waiting for me.”
An emergency admission to Winchester Hospital was followed by a stressful ten-day wait for diagnosis as a bone marrow biopsy failed. Tara had to have a sample of bone taken and sent for tests. On 5th December 2023 she was finally diagnosed with B-cell ALL. This rare type of leukaemia is most common in children and older people – 65% of cases are in under-25s and 13% in the over-60s. It is also most frequent in men (figures from NICE).
“I felt like my whole world was taken away at that point as I was told there was no time to waste and I was to be admitted the following day at Southampton General Hospital to start treatment. They said as chemotherapy would need to start immediately there would be no chance to preserve my eggs and my fertility. I was 36 and had no children of my own, although my partner had children from his first marriage. Unlike other cancers, where you have time before treatment begins, this was sudden because if they didn’t start me on chemotherapy then and there I would have died.”

Tara during treatment
Tara spent the next two months in hospital undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy and treatment with steroids and other drugs. Her body reacted badly to some of the drugs.
“I was put on a trial called the UK ALL 14 Protocol which is run by University College London Hospital (UCLH). The regime is usually used on children but is now being trialed in the few under-40s who get ALL. I had a bad reaction to the drug Pegaspargase and ended up with liver issues. They told me that it was working well for my cancer and had put me into remission but I might need a liver transplant, which was a shock. By that time I was bright yellow and severely jaundiced. I ended up needing four extra weeks in hospital but they stopped it after two doses and fortunately my liver recovered.
“Apart from that I had all the usual sickness, nerve damage in my hands and feet, vertigo and I lost my hair three times. I felt exhausted, unable to walk, stand, eat or drink. I also suffered terribly from constipation from the anti-nausea drugs. I came off them eventually and actually felt less nauseous and my digestion got back to normal.
“I was in minimal residual disease (MRD) remission by February 2024. But it was hard. Initially I lost over 10kg in just over a month but during the length of my treatment I put on about 20kg in the end due to the steroids. I developed osteoporosis of the spine as a result of treatment and still have so many aches and pains.”
In February Tara went home for six weeks and was able to celebrate her birthday on the 17th of the month with friends, family and her partner Lee. She then returned to hospital for another two months and finally went onto maintenance treatment in November 2024. She will take daily and weekly chemotherapy tablets and intravenous Vincristine and an IT methotrexate treatment for the next two years.
“I went back to work in January 2025 and I’m now doing four days a week. I work for an organisation that provides social housing and they’ve been incredibly understanding.
“Lee and I had just started discussing the possibility of maybe having children when I became ill. We had been together for three years but I’ve known him much longer. It’s something you don’t ever want to have taken away from you as an option. I asked for a referral to the fertility team at Southampton and when I am through my two years’ maintenance they are going to test me just to see if there’s any chance, although the NHS will not fund any fertility treatment.
“I have been in full remission officially since April 2024 and I am classed as ‘low risk’ for relapse however I have some genetic abnormalities which they keep an eye on.

Tara with partner Lee
“My experience has completely turned my world upside down. I was healthy, fit and active prior to my diagnosis. I love hiking and I’m usually leading the pack. I was never stick thin but I was fit and this is why I tolerated my treatments so well according to my doctors. I’m starting to get back to being fit again now my medication and immune system is stablised. I’m walking the dogs and will start hiking and doing the gym again. However the muscle mass loss and weight gain have caused me a significant mental health decline. I have lost my confidence in my body’s abilities and also myself. I have a counsellor from a local cancer charity who’s been fantastic, and when I’m feeling low I talk to a few people I’ve met online who also have ALL as adults.
“I didn’t fit the profile for ALL. The survival and fatality rates for my age group barely exist – it’s either children or adults, and the adults are mostly elderly. Doctors were initially perplexed. I smoked as a young teen but not in 20 years, I didn’t really drink, I’m fit and active and mindful of what I was eating. I questioned whether I’d done something cause it but my consultant said: ‘It’s just sh*t luck, it’s nothing you’ve done’. That helped a lot!
“I want to live and stay healthy and find happiness again. Oh and hopefully lose some weight so I can get married as Lee proposed to me in February 2024 on my birthday! We’re not making any big plans at the moment though, just taking each day as it comes.”
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