One woman has opened up about her misdiagnosed bug that went on to be cancer after admitting the 'pain made her want to die'.
Bex Despard, who hails from Southport in Merseyside, was initially instructed to simply take paracetamol and revealed her 'world imploded' when it turned out she had cancer.
The 56-year-old mum was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in October 2017, after feeling so exhausted she could barely walk up the steps to her flat.
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In 2017, Bex started feeling sick with what she believed was a bug.
"I had started with cold symptoms, I thought I had a bug. I went to the doctors and they said go home and take paracetamol and that it's probably viral," the mother-of-two recalled.
Then, five days later, Bex 'felt no better' so she went to the doctors for a second time and they told her it was viral and prescribed her an antibiotic.
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Opening up some more about her symptoms, she explained: "It wasn't just tired I felt, I was fatigued. I went to work and said I felt like someone had knocked the stuffing out of me.
"Two days later - on the Thursday - I was off work and my fiancé, Dave, said 'I'm not happy we're going back to the doctors.' So he took me back.
"I fell asleep in the doctor's room and I'm not a sick person. It was a circus really."
Bex added: "No one knew what was going on. They were taking bloods asking if I had been in contact with wild animals, if I had been to Africa, then they said it might be hepatitis."
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Following that, Bex was informed she would need to go to the hospital, where a doctor told her that they were 95 per cent sure she had leukaemia.
Remembering that moment, she said: "I was so shocked; all I could say was 'pardon'? He said it again and asked if I had any questions. I was so upset, I couldn’t speak. My world imploded.
"I was told in hospital and had nobody around me, no family present, nothing. I thought they were talking about someone else, my world imploded."
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She revealed she went into 'a state of disbelief' and said, from that point on, it was a 'car crash'.
"All I could think about was my poor children," the mum carried on.
"They have gone from sitting on the stairs saying mum will be home, to coming to the hospital.
"I remember asking if I was going to lose my hair and the doctor looked at me and said we are going to fight this."
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She went on to endure two intense rounds of chemotherapy, which left her underweight and hugely fatigued as she was unable to eat.
Her second round of chemo triggered a life-threatening bout of sepsis and she spent seven weeks at Royal Liverpool University Hospital over the Christmas period, having heart palpitations and repeatedly going into shock.
Bex later suffered a brain haemorrhage after having 15 'barbaric' bone marrow biopsies.
Talking about the biopsy, she said: "My son had come with me to my last bone marrow - just out of curiosity - and he said to me 'mum that's barbaric'.
"The pain I experienced in that last bone marrow was off the scale and it caused me to have a brain haemorrhage.
"I was losing consciousness and the pain was off the scale. I spent eight days in the hospital after it and thankfully my body recovered. People always say to me: 'OMG you survived'."
Bex called the situation 'horrendous', but acknowledged that the care she got was 'phenomenal'.
She was sent home from the hospital with sepsis, adding: "That's what nearly killed me.
"The hospital held their hands up and apologised for their mistake and now they have special nurses that check people for infection before sending them home.
"I actually wanted to die at that point, I could not take the pain. The only thing that spurred me on was the thought of my children and Dave, you just look for that core strength. If Dave hadn't taken me to the hospital I wouldn't be here today."
Remission for Bex was finally confirmed in April 2018 with the mum saying: "Life now is good. Home life is so much better for my children too - what they must have gone through the trauma they experienced, I can't imagine.
"They are strong kids. We are very close.
"Although life now is a lot better, I do still have pain but fortunately I was a very active person at the time and that gave me good stead to fight it."
The charity Leukaemia UK has now announced it is funding a new project which could lead to treatments with fewer side effects for patients like Bex in the future.
Bex said she is hopeful that this new research will mean others don’t have to go through the difficulties she and her family did because of such aggressive treatment.
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.
Rhiannon Ingle