Katie's Story

"On 22nd February 2022 our world went onto slow motion. Katie my beautiful 22 year old, in the midst of her final year at uni was told she had Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).
For sometime Katie had been feeling very tired and getting throat infections regularly. Her doctor acted quickly and asked her to give a blood sample. On that same day Katie was called and asked to go straight to the haematology department at Nottingham City hospital. There she stayed almost permanently, other than the odd week between chemotherapy courses, for 6 months.

The treatment was, to put it mildly, horrific but we knew it was her only chance. Katie fought this with so much strength and even managed to complete her final year assignment while hooked up to various machines! She achieved her degree and applied for her masters.
During her treatment Katie was confined to one room and was only allowed one visitor every other day for an hour. Thankfully we have amazing technology these days so we could communicate regularly, but it was so hard. As I live in Cornwall I would come to Nottingham and stay for a few weeks and then swap with Katie’s dad.
In September Katie was finally released. She emerged as a very different person; her health poor and energy drained. BUT she was in REMISSION!
She threw herself straight into her Masters, how she did this I do not know. She is now spending much of her free times writing articles and making podcasts with other young people about the reality of having cancer.
We are all so very proud of what she has coped with and all her achievements whilst undergoing her treatment. We now wait for her to be cancer free for 5 years, a long wait but a necessity.
We feel so privileged to be given the opportunity to spend some time together in the Cotswolds thanks to the amazing people and supporters of the Ben Saunders Foundation. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts 💕"