A mother's incurable blood cancer left her back broken in 13 places and she ended up losing three inches in height.
Antoinette Carr, 50, initially thought her fatigue was a symptom of postnatal depression because she not long had her son at the time.
But she was diagnosed with myeloma, which develops from plasma cells in the bone marrow, a cancer which has returned multiple times since 2012.
On one occasion, the cancer caused Antoinette's spine to fracture and significant bone damage resulted in the woman going from 5ft 2in to 4ft 9in.
Damage to her spine has left Antoinette, a former support worker, in constant pain and with limited mobility.
After reaching her seventh round of chemotherapy and exhausting all other treatment options, the mum signed up to a new drug trial - belantamab mafodotin - which treats multiple myeloma. She was then told she was in remission in December 2022 - where the signs and symptoms of your cancer are reduced.
Recalling her diagnosis, Antoinette, from Enfield, North London, said: "After maternity leave, I kept feeling more tired than usual. I thought it might be postnatal depression then I just put it down to being a working mum with a young baby.
"I had a bone marrow biopsy and they told me I had myeloma - it was really, really hard."
Antoinette had only just returned to work from maternity leave in 2012 when she started feeling completely exhausted. She consulted her GP, who ordered blood tests and found the results concerning.
Antoinette was diagnosed with MGUS - a benign condition which had just a one per cent chance of developing into cancer-like myeloma - in December 2011.
But in February 2012 after her initial MGUS diagnosis, she was told the condition had progressed to myeloma.
Antoinette said: “My son, Reuben, 13, was a baby. I remember going to the hospital with my husband, Richard, 52, and my son was in the buggy.
"All he’s ever known is me being ill. My daughter, Savannah, 17, was four at the time. It’s been pretty tough.
“Initially it didn’t really sink in for us. I just tried to continue as normal. I’m glad to have got this far. I never thought I would see them grow up."
Antoinette's GP pushed for a referral for more tests and a bone marrow biopsy - despite being told by the haematology department at Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone, East London, not to worry. In the wake of Myeloma Awareness Week, Antoinette is teaming up with charity Myeloma UK to highlight there is currently 851 people living with undiagnosed myeloma in the UK.
As part of the campaign, the 50-year-old is urging the public to learn the tell-tale symptoms, rule themselves out and spread the word about myeloma. After lockdown started, her cancer started to eat away at her vertebrae - causing her spine to fracture in four places.
Antoinette spent three weeks in the hospital and was sent home in a back brace. Despite being on strong painkillers and eventually begging her orthopaedic doctor in Whitechapel, East London, to see her in person, she was told – over the phone – that her pain would eventually subside.
But, by the time she was rushed to St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, less than a week later, she had nine more back fractures. She then had to undergo kyphoplasty surgery - that injects cement into broken bones - but the damage to her spine has left her in constant pain and with limited mobility.
