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A woman who thought she was having a heart attack while at a music festival was diagnosed with cancer just four hours later.
Errin Shaw, 30, was at TRNSMT in Glasgow, in September last year when she suddenly felt intense pains in her chest, prompting her to ask her husband if she’d been stabbed.
When the pains didn’t shift, Errin was rushed to hospital where she was later diagnosed with grey zone lymphoma, a rare form of the disease that affects the immune system.
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Errin, from Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, was then given the devastating news that she wouldn’t live to see Christmas.
However, she underwent gruelling chemotherapy which consisted of 24-hour bags for five days, before coming off it for 7-14 days - and has since been told her cancer is in remission.
Errin said: “I was at TRNSMT in Glasgow Green, we were listening to Snow Patrol, and I actually thought I was having a heart attack.
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“I turned to my husband Graeme and said ‘have I been stabbed?’ and he said no, so my mum picked us up.
“She took me straight to the Glasgow Royal and within four hours I was diagnosed with cancer.
“I was there for three or four nights then I went straight to the Beatson [cancer centre] – so I never went home from TRNSMT for a month.
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“I had 606 hours of dose-adjusted e-poch chemo – it's not the most straight forward chemo.
“I was hooked up for five days in a row to my chemotherapy. I had that regime five times.”
Dose-adjusted e-poch chemotherapy is a chemotherapy combination used to treat certain types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
And thankfully, it paid off - in June this year Errin got a call from her cancer nurse to say her scans were clear and she was in remission.
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Errin said: “My phone rang and it was the Beatson.
“Every time my phone rang and it said ‘Beatson’ I’d always look at whoever I was with and say ‘get my bag packed’ because we knew it meant I was going back in.
“It was my lymphoma nurse, Michelle, and she said: ‘I can’t wait until your appointment on Monday to tell you this news. We’ve actually had to triple check it because we can’t believe your PET scan is clear.’
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“She said there was no detection of disease at that present moment.
“As you can imagine that was out the blue and from last year being told I wasn’t going to make the Christmas to being told that.
“It was a crazy moment.”
Beatson Cancer Charity is launching its Bauble Appeal this Christmas to ensure more patients and their families are supported.
Errin has since raised a whopping £5,375 for Beatson Cancer Charity by putting on a ‘Gingie Ball’ to celebrate her being in remission.
You can donate here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week
Claire Reid