'How do I tell my kids? Your heart breaks for them': Sporty Wolverhampton mum's 'harmless' football bruise injury was cancer

Katie Haywood was just 45 when she was diagnosed with myeloma last June after months of ignoring worrying symptoms.

She blamed everything on her hectic life, juggling family with her full-time nursing job despite suffering an “angry” bruise, breathlessness, fatigue and constant colds.

By the time she was diagnosed, Katie was in end stage kidney failure and just days from collapse.

Katie, from Wolverhampton, said: “There were a lot of separate little things but I made excuses for all my symptoms.

“I always found a reason. I was tired but I was working full-time as a nurse, teaching yoga twice a week and I was playing football.

“I was getting out of puff and I struggled to take the stairs up the multi-storey car park at work but I had had a chest infection and a cold that took a while to shake off.

“Now I know it’s because I was severely anaemic, something I would spot in someone else straightaway.

“About three months before I was diagnosed I had a really bad bruise on my arm.

“It looked like there was blood underneath, like a hematoma.

“I didn’t remember being hit but I thought someone must have elbowed me at football and I didn’t notice.

“But the next day, my arm was still hurting and it still looked like a fresh bruise.

“I had no idea at the time that it was because of low platelets.”

Katie is now backing Myeloma UK’s Know the Warning Signs campaign to help others spot the clues before it’s too late.

She added: “Getting diagnosed early makes a big difference to people. So think about the bigger picture.

“There’s a reason for something. You need to think deeper and put two and two together. You shouldn’t be struggling, it’s not normal.”

Myeloma is a cancer in the bone marrow and affects more than 35,000 people in the UK.

Despite being the third most common blood cancer it is often missed because symptoms like fatigue, infections and back pain are vague.

One in four patients waits more than ten months for a diagnosis even though a simple blood test can often detect it.

Katie only sought help after the bruise on her arm refused to heal.

Within an hour she was told results had to be redone as “there was no way the results could be correct” before being rushed to hospital.

She said: “I just went to work as normal and never left.

“My kidney function was only eight, I was in end stage renal failure.

“I was severely anaemic which explained the shortness of breath and had very low platelets.

“My consultant said I had a week or so and then I would have collapsed and come in as an emergency.

“The hardest part was that it was my daughter’s birthday the next day.”

Four days later she was diagnosed with myeloma.

She said: “It was a shock. When I had the blood tests done, I thought I maybe had a B12 deficiency, you don’t think something could be so wrong.

“There’s a dark time when you think, am I going to die now? You think, how do I tell my kids? Your heart breaks for them.

“They thought I had myeloma a while, maybe a year or two.

“I ended up being looked after by some nurses I used to work with years ago. It was all very surreal.”

Katie underwent chemotherapy and had a stem cell transplant last November.

She is now in remission but is still facing lasting effects, including reduced kidney function and menopause brought on by treatment.

She said: “In your mind you think, how long do I have before it comes back?

“It’s hard to get your head around. The transplant was hard but it was successful so it’s all been worth it.

“I’m still a long way off any kind of normality but I’m feeling hopeful for the future. "

While incurable, myeloma can be treated with periods of remission but it will eventually return.

Experts warn spotting symptoms early can save lives.

Dr Sophie Castell, Chief Executive at Myeloma UK, said: “You wouldn’t ignore a red light on the road or a caution sign on a freshly-mopped floor, so why ignore the warning signs that your body sends you?

“Myeloma has one of the longest times to diagnosis of any cancer.

“One of the biggest barriers remains identifying and piecing together the symptoms quickly and before too much damage is done.”