A 26-year-old man who had 'never been sick' was given just three weeks to live after a misdiagnosed 'viral infection' which turned out to be cancer left him 'struggling to breathe'. Harry Simpson, now 27, noticed a 'couple of purple spots' on his chest last February in the shower before he was due to fly out to Dubai, the Liverpool Echo reports.
The thrill seeker 'thought nothing of it' and spent the next fortnight skydiving, riding jet skis and celebrating his 26th birthday. However, following a later week of winter training in the mountains, Harry began to notice that something wasn't quite right with his health after his heart was going 'mad' and he couldn't catch a breath.
The 27-year-old said: "I was really tired, just fatigued. I was going to the gym and I was out of breath, nowhere near as good as what I could be. I went to my doctor and they were like, 'We think you might have a viral infection from Dubai', so they gave me antibiotics to take for about two weeks.
"I thought I must be alright, so I went down south and climbed the highest mountain in Ireland. I had to stop 20 times going up that mountain and I was like, 'Something really isn't right'.
"I could literally feel my heart going mad in my chest, like really pumping. And I could feel it in my arteries, down my neck, and my lymph nodes had swollen up on one side. I just couldn't breathe, I was just struggling to breathe."
His doctor sent him for blood tests at his request and the following day his colleagues remarked that he had lost weight and was looking very pale. He then found '10 missed calls from different consultants' on his phone who'd managed to get through to his concerned mum who told him to contact the hospital.
Harry said: "It was just a random consultant who'd looked at my bloods under a microscope that day. They just said, 'Look, don't want to scare you or anything, but we need you to come to the cancer centre in the city hospital tomorrow morning.
"It's the only bed we have available in Belfast. Bring a bag, you might have to stay for one night'." Despite this, Harry was still under the impression that nothing was seriously wrong as he said: "I just could never think I would be sick. I've never been sick in my life with anything small, I don't get colds.
"I've never really been sick at all, so I just didn't expect anything. I was just expecting something silly that needs to be sorted out." Little did the 26-year-old know that from March to October he would be spending his entire life in the hospital as he was not allowed visitors due to the Covid pandemic and was also not allowed to leave the ward himself due to being 'high risk'.
He had been in hospital for a fortnight before a bone marrow sample taken from his pelvis showed that he had a rare type of blood cancer but the consultant wanted to wait another two days to inform him so his family could be present for the news.
Harry was diagnosed with early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ETP-ALL), which had spread to his skin causing the purple spots and was told he could have a 'maximum three weeks left' to live. Harry said: "I just sat and cried. My granny was sitting there and she was upset, and my dad was trying to be a bit of strength for me."
Harry's only 'chance at living' was a stem cell transplant, donated by his sister but Harry would first need 'intensive chemotherapy' to fight the aggressive cancer which starts from white blood cells in the bone marrow. He explained: "No amount of chemo in the world was ever going to solve my issue. My cancer was always going to come back because of where it developed.
Harry underwent chemotherapy for 19 weeks in hospital which included getting 12 lumbar punctures to stop the cancer spreading to his brain and being treated with enzymes. The side effects were 'dreadful' as Harry said he lay in bed for three weeks straight unable to move.
Doctors didn't think Harry was going to make it after a week of full-body radiotherapy along with more chemotherapy before his stem cell transplant. The side effects of the treatment left him lying in a dark room on morphine for 24 hours a day and he had to be fed through a tube because eating or drinking was too painful.
He lost a massive 15kg in five weeks but doctors were delighted to see that Harry began to get slightly better again a few days later. Despite the pain he was in, Harry worked hard to remain positive and tried to keep his 'mind occupied' by helping other people and 'raise awareness' about his condition.
While he was well enough, he rode an exercise bike in the hospital and used it to help raise £40,000 for charities like Friends of the Cancer Centre as well as Anthony Nolan and DKMS which help connect blood cancer patients and blood or stem cell donors. Harry also started journaling every day about his cancer journey and his feelings which is something he still continues doing now.
He's paid credit to the friendships he formed on the ward and the 'incredible' nurses who all kept him going. Speaking of his efforts to raise money for charity, he said: "When I set out, if I'd raised £3,000 I would've been delighted. It was just crazy the amount of people who wanted to help me, wanted to support me and what I was trying to do, help other people.
"It's incredible how people just rally around you and you really see what people mean to you. It definitely changed my outlook on everything. A lot of people I'll cherish forever because, I mean, you can't really put into words what it's like going through an experience like that, and then your nearest and dearest have been there for you every single day. It's good because there are a lot of bad days."
Harry was told two days before Christmas that there was no sign of cancer in his most recent bone marrow test for the first time since he was diagnosed. His family were over the moon but the 27-year-old remains at high risk of the cancer returning and the treatment he's had to get rid of increases his chances of him developing secondary cancer.
Harry still goes for weekly check-ups and takes medication to keep his cancer but he was able to go go-karting for his 27th birthday this Saturday after a year of little socialising. Harry has expressed how 'thankful' he is to still be alive and wakes up 'happy' every morning as he takes 'every single day as a new challenge'.
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