A woman with a cat bite walks into a medical centre…

No, it’s not the start of a bad joke, but what followed for Jackie was so surreal it felt like it could have been.

She had been feeling fatigued and lethargic for a while, but it wasn’t until a routine blood test after she had been bitten by her cat that the real problem with her health was uncovered.

Within 2 days of her blood test, Jackie was admitted to hospital where she stayed for a month for a course of chemotherapy, followed by many more months of daily visits to the hospital as an out patient for azacitidine injections: 14 injections each and every month that “sting like a wasp” according to Jackie.

Jackie had MDS-EB2, a form of Myelodysplasia where there are too many blasts (immature cells) in the blood, requiring months of chemotherapy followed by an allogeneic stem cell transplant with cells from her sister.

Being diagnosed is scary

“Being diagnosed is scary,” Jackie said. “Your life is turned upside down. I couldn’t work and all I wanted to do was survive for my three daughters and three grandchildren, all the while knowing that the odds of survival weren’t great. My specialist actually wrote the odds down for me — I still have the yellow post-it note he wrote it on — and it’s a shock when you see it like that!

“My first question was, ‘am I going to lose my hair?’ followed by ‘am I going to die?’”

“Yes” to the hair loss, and “no one can answer that” to the second question. “But we wouldn’t be doing treatment if we didn’t think that was a better option than doing nothing, and I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t explain the odds to you. You need to know the risks,” was what Jackie’s haematologist told her.

Financial strain is a burden, too

“The financial strain was a real burden, too,” Jackie said. “I’ve always been a casual employee, and I’m also a carer for my elderly mum who lives with me. When you suddenly find yourself in hospital and unable to work for an extended period of time, well… it’s really tough. I’m a proud person, and I don’t like asking for help, but when you’re faced with rent increases on top of needing to travel back and forth to hospitals every day, you just have to rely on the help of others.

“Arrow has been such a help, providing me with petrol cards and grocery vouchers. I can’t begin to express the gratitude I feel towards Arrow’s sponsors. I’m embarrassed to have had to ask for help, but it’s made a huge difference. Huge. My rent has increased $150 a week in the last little while. That’s a lot. To be able to fill up your car with petrol and to be able to afford decent food is a blessing. And it’s not just a help financially. It helps your heart, too, knowing that people care.”

And now?

The day we spoke Jackie had just received her most recent test results: Her blood is now 100% her sister’s, and her bone marrow biopsy was clear of disease. She’s a survivor!

Survivorship comes with its own trials

Survivorship comes with its own trials, though: the financial and time costs of lengthy ongoing treatment, complications and side effects from chemotherapy and transplant, and for many the guilt of survivorship.

When you’re in hospital for such long periods and for treatment as intense as a bone marrow transplant, you naturally become friends with those who are there with you. For Jackie, this was a Kyra, a younger patient in the room next door. Over the course of her treatment, Jackie grew close to Kyra and her mother. “She had her own mum, and I was like her hospital mum,” Jackie said. Sadly, Kyra passed away from her disease.

“Saying goodbye to Kyra was the hardest thing. It made me question why I lived but she didn’t. It’s so unfair! But I know she would want me to keep living and enjoy life. I’m still in touch with her mum, and she will never be forgotten. Life is for living and making memories. People ask around the start of each year what your goal is. Well, mine is making more memories. I don’t say ‘Happy New Year’ anymore. I say, ‘make lots of good memories this year!’ And that’s what I’m going to do: Live life and make lots of memories.