Jordan is Jogging/Biking 31 Miles in August

Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. This August, I’m jogging 31 miles in the month to help beat cancer. 1 in 2 of us will get cancer in our lifetime. On 27th July 2021 I was admitted to hospital with abnormal blood results following blood test due to bleeding gums and multiple unexplained bruises. I was told that I was very ill and fighting against Leukaemia. I spent the next 24 hours receiving blood and platelet transfusions, constantly thinking of how my 2 children and unborn baby would get through life without their dad. On 28th July I was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukaemia, an aggressive type of acute myeloid leukaemia that I probably only had for a matter of weeks. Chemotherapy started through the night and I spent the next week with constant nausea and zero appetite. No visitors were allowed due to the high number of covid cases in the area, but due to my ever decreasing mental health and the imminent arrival of baby number 3, the ward manager decided to let Shannon be with me every day and so she was, every step of the way. On 29th July Shannon left me half asleep at around 7pm and 1 hour later in walked our parents to let me know she’d been involved in a car accident and was just upstairs getting stitched up. Luckily both her and baby were OK! After 2 long weeks inside the same 4 walls my two little ones came to see me for the first time for an overwhelming outdoor visit. Days later my white blood cells reached their peak. At this point they should keep dropping until at a safe level where I can return home. They didn’t. I was told I would need a round of alternative chemotherapy that would be more intensive and comes with more side effects. I was told I would probably lose my hair and I would probably feel more nauseous. But it was necessary to bring my white blood cell count down from 137 back to between 4 and 11, where it should be. I could feel my body attacking itself from the inside, on morphine and in constant pain until I was unable to walk without help. Hot baths helped the pain but getting out of the bath caused blackouts which led to me being referred for an MRI scan to be sure there was no bleeding on the brain. And there wasn’t. Days later Brooke was born. I wasn’t able to make it to her birth although I was taken to see Shannon and Brooke briefly after but felt too ill to stay for more than 20 minutes. Disappointing on so many levels. After several panic attacks and blackouts and a long month in hospital it was my day to come home. Although I felt like I was coming down with something I was adamant I was going home as soon as they let me. My night at home was short lived as not much more than 24 hours later I was readmitted to A&E with an infection. I spent the night in a corridor confused, feverish, sick and disoriented. Finally after 15 hours of A&E I was transferred back to the haematology ward. Within hours of being back on the ward I was told I needed additional oxygen as my levels were too low. I spent a second night with no rest switching between oxygen masks and being monitored by a critical health nurse, not really knowing what was going on. When Shannon came to see me I was attached to the highest dose of oxygen that was able to be given on the ward. And we were told I needed to be taken up to ICU where I could be given more oxygen and 1 to 1 care. When in ICU I needed additional access lines attached so I could continue with blood and platelet transfusions as well as fluids and antibiotics. I was told that evening that I had neutropenic sepsis. I was told that my best chance to get through this was to put up with my CPAP mask for as long as required. I was too anxious to take it off even for food and drink which meant being fed through a tube. The next day Shannon visited to be told by my doctor that I hadn’t improved overnight as expected and in fact my oxygen needs increased. The next 12 hours would decide if I needed to be put on a ventilator. Fortunately I slowly started to improve overnight. I spent over a week in ICU in the same bed weak and unable to do anything for myself as well as experiencing hallucinations. I was only allowed 1 visitor for 1 hour a day, but Shannon was there every single day. And sometimes didn’t get kicked out after an hour. Cancer doesn’t discriminate, it led me from my strongest to my weakest in a matter of weeks. I left my house on 27th July saying goodbye to my kids thinking it could be the last time. My family were my rock through this time and I almost certainly would have given up without them. Obviously I lived to tell the tale. After 5 rounds of chemo I am in remission. Cancer doesn’t end with remission. It ends with anxiety over it returning and paranoia about anything that can be related to it. My entire treatment would have cost over £40,000. And the research that went into discovering it would have been considerably more. Not everyone is as lucky as I am so more research needs to be done to keep people like me alive. Help fund life-saving research by making a donation to my page.