A 48-year-old man named Dene Firth from Barnsley visited a doctor in 2019 after he struggled with night sweats and a swollen foot. Mr Firth decided to seek the help of a physiotherapist, he was then tragically diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), Bristol Live reported.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, AML is a rare cancer that affects bone marrow and blood. It is an aggressive cancer, that left untreated, may be life-threatening.
Mr Dene, who worked as a property clerk sadly died one year after being diagnosed with AML.
His wife, Diane told Yorkshire Live, "The physiotherapist realised immediately this wasn't a problem that she could do something about and sent him to his GP.
"The GP gave Dene a blood test on September 4 2019, and by that afternoon he was in Sheffield's Hallamshire Teaching Hospital with a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia."
The news of the diagnosis came as a shock to the family. The 55-year-old further shared, "Dene was quite healthy - he was a football coach for his son's team. We were in disbelief, and very frightened. But despite our fear of the future, we remained hopeful it could be cured."
He went through chemotherapy while Diane looked after their two children.
Diane also searched for a stem cell donor for a stem cell transplant. Dene needed to have below 5% cancerous cells in his body for a stem cell transplant to take place.
However, when the family found the donor, Mr Firth, was at the end of his second round of chemotherapy and still had more than 40 per cent cancerous cells in his body.
The stem cell transplant became a risky option to consider, Firth went for a third round of chemotherapy. However, his chances of survival were low and he sadly died on July 9, 2020.
