28 Oct 2026

The inquest found no evidence of leukaemia in the blood

Victoria Nixon

Victoria Nixon was studying geography at Lancaster University and enjoying student life. But her first year was marred by frequent cold and flu viruses and she started falling behind with her studies.  In summer 2019 Victoria spent the holidays with her family and her mum took her to the doctor.

“Victoria’s periods had stopped in the spring/summer of 2019 but the doctor at the time had told her not to worry about it,” said her mother Claire, 59, who lives in Yaxley, Huntingdonshire. “A blood test had come back normal apart from showing signs of a fatty liver which is very unusual in someone her age.”

Despite her mum’s concerns, Victoria returned feeling refreshed to start Year 2 at university, only to immediately come down with yet another cold virus.  During the next three months she suffered with another three infections and reluctantly decided she would have to abandon year 2 of her university course.

“Eventually she fell too far behind with her work, abandoned Year 2, and went to stay with her father in Guernsey in February 2020, just before lockdown.”

Victoria told her mum she was feeling very tired and stressed due to repeatedly being laid low with colds and high temperatures, which meant it was hard to sleep.

“In early summer, when Guernsey was still in covid lockdown, she went down with yet another flu type virus. Seeing her on Zoom, it looked to me like she never recovered her full strength following one infection after another since starting university. She had started to look quite puffy in the face, had dark circles under the eyes, was always tired, and was struggling with the usual everyday activities due to low energy.”

Victoria returned to university in September 2020 and after a couple of weeks came home to visit her mum and sister.

“Victoria came back to mainland UK in September 2020 and decided to go straight back to university, anxious to resume her studies. When she did come home to visit me at the end of September, I noticed bruises on her legs. I asked how she got them, but she didn’t know. She said they didn’t hurt like bruises usually do. Victoria was travelling back to University on the Sunday afternoon, and attended a blood test appointment with the university doctor the next day.”

Victoria and her family received the shock news that the blood test revealed her symptoms were due to blood cancer. In mid-October 2020 Victoria was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with TP53 mutation (CD19 expression).

“I was at work in Peterborough when Victoria called me from Lancaster with her devasting news. I said it had to be a mistake; it could not be possible, until she started university she had always enjoyed good health. She told me they had checked three times, there was no mistake. Her blood was showing 84% abnormal cell blasts. I immediately left my desk in Peterborough and drove straight to Lancaster. I was reeling, in shock and could not believe what I was hearing.”

The following morning Victoria and her mum went to Peterborough City Hospital for an appointment with a specialist consultant.

“The consultant advised Victoria should be admitted to the Teenage Cancer Trust Ward C9 at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge as they had a purpose-built facility for teens and young adults coping with cancer.

“She was transferred immediately and the first round of treatment started. There followed various treatments, and dealing with life threatening side effects, for a period of six months. The repeated cocktails of chemotherapy did not get Victoria into complete remission so eventually she was identified as suitable patient for CAR-T therapy. The whole six months, including the CAR-T, was a terrifying and distressing ordeal and it took a terrible toll on Victoria’s mental health. One of the most frightening side effects of the treatment was meningitis. More than once she was at high risk of end of life with rapid response put on alert. But the CAR-T did get Victoria into remission – we were told this in April 2021 and she was allowed to come home.”

During the following two and a half years, Victoria worked hard on resuming the normal life of a 20-year-old, continuing her geography degree and even taking part in a trip sailing round the West Coast of Scotland with the Ellen Macarthur Trust. However, her mental health remained poor, and she suffered from repeated infections due to her vulnerable immune system, and persistent pain in her bone marrow biopsy sites.

“To this day I have no idea how she coped, especially being away from home trying to achieve her degree, although she did have the support of a counsellor every two weeks on the telephone. But I know the whole experience changed her and she lived with severe health anxiety.”

But Victoria was determined to try and heal her body and live her life, taking a part-time job in a local shop and riding her bike and walking. She successfully completed her degree and was delighted to be offered an internship with the university, coordinating the ECOEats project which delivers free, sustainable food boxes to students and runs a programme of cooking and food events.

Tragically, two and a half years after going into remission, Victoria relapsed and was re-admitted to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge for further treatment. Her leukaemia had progressed and was now expressing CD22 cells which her CAR-T cells could not recognize.

“A bone marrow transplant was now out of the question because she was no longer in remission. Further chemotherapy treatment started for Victoria in September 2023, first with a targeted therapy (Inotuzumab), which only cleared the leukaemia from the peripheral blood not the bone marrow, and then with the chemotherapy combination treatment FLAG-IDA.

“A bone marrow biopsy was carried out on 4th December and on 7th December 2023 we found out the chemotherapy administered in the autumn had improved the outlook to an average reading of 12% abnormal cell blasts – a big improvement, but not good enough for a bone marrow transplant.”

Victoria’s second round of chemotherapy started on 12th December and her condition worsened. Doctors increased her medication in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the chemotherapy, but Victoria’s decline continued. The medical advised team Victoria it would take much longer to recover from this second round of chemotherapy (FLAG-IDA).

“She couldn’t eat, she was on all sorts of drugs, had continued infections and was in a high level of distress due to the pain throughout her body.

“On Tuesday 16 January I saw a new rash on Victoria’s arm and we were told it was probably due to the blood pressure sleeve. Victoria immediately asked for a bone marrow biopsy. The doctor suggested she was not well enough to endure the procedure but Victoria said “I want to know”.  The bone marrow biopsy was carried out early on Wednesday 17 January and at 7pm the same day the consultant told us the abnormal cell blasts were at 97% and there was nothing else that could be done, and she had a matter of hours to live.”

Victoria died on 18th January 2024 at 4pm. She was just 23 years old.

“At the inquest, 13 months later, we were advised the reason the medical staff did not know Victoria was dying was because there was no evidence of leukaemia in the blood. This is known as aleukaemic leukaemia where leukaemic cells invade tissue and organs while routine blood tests appear normal.

“Victoria’s passing was a huge shock, nobody knew it was the leukaemia progressing, we all thought her symptoms were due to the impact of chemotherapy treatment, because of this, from about 23 December through to 18 January Victoria experienced significant suffering and did not receive the pain relief or support she needed as her life ended.”