The young party-goer – Metropol – fell ill in Budapest and fought for his life
Tom Hunt He was 18 when he and his friends decided to travel around Europe in 2018. The trip went well, everyone had a good time, but Tom still struggled with extreme fatigue almost the entire time. The youngster, who usually sleeps 7-8 hours, slept until 6 p.m. and he felt something was wrong with him.
He felt himself in Budapest for the first time
When he first came to the capital of our country, he wondered if he should stop drinking and sleep more properly. The situation got even worse in Prague, where he already felt “laughably sick”.
“It was difficult for me to eat anything because my throat hurt a lot,” said the now 22-year-old guy, recalling what happened to Sun, that he felt endlessly tired at that time despite sleeping more than usual. Since the lymph nodes on his neck were also swollen, he believed that he was struggling with some kind of infection, so he decided to return home earlier than planned. He booked a flight, and when he got home he checked in with his family doctor, who suspected strep throat based on the symptoms and prescribed antibiotics.
When the emergency bell rang
But in addition to the sore throat and fatigue, Tom had another troubling symptom.
“I slept cross-legged on the train for about three hours, and when I woke up, I noticed a huge lump,” recalled the young man, who therefore asked for medical help again.
And although Tom was feeling better at the GP surgery and felt his appetite had returned a bit, as the doctor said he was ‘not looking well’ and was ‘very pale’, he decided to have some blood tests done. Blood tests confirmed that Tom had glandular fever, and there was another more worrying sign. So the doctor urgently recommended two blood transfusions and sent him to Manchester Royal Infirmary, where he underwent a series of further tests. It turns out in a few days that the problem is serious.
The devastating diagnosis: leukemia
In Tom’s case, the cancers identified a very rare form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which causes the bone marrow to release white blood cells before they can really be effective. Because of this, a person’s body becomes more vulnerable to infections, so he has to face repeated infections many times in a short period of time. This could also be the cause of glandular fever. Only the number of red blood cells and platelets can decrease in this case due to the excess of white blood cells, which can lead to fatigue, pale skin, nosebleeds, high temperature, night sweats, bruised skin and a purple rash.
The path to healing
Tom was taken to the Christie Hospital in Manchester, where he received intensive care for a month. Until 2019, he had to undergo chemotherapy and several platelet transfusions. In terms of the effectiveness of this, he is in “morphological remission”. Despite what he’s been through, the now 22-year-old is ready to go to college this year. Meanwhile, he doesn’t forget what happened to him, and he encourages everyone to do so get checked out as soon as possible if something is wrong.
Symptoms of leukemia vary depending on the type
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Fever or chills
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Persistent fatigue, weakness
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Frequent or severe infections
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Lose weight without trying
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Swollen lymph nodes, enlarged liver or spleen
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Bleeding or bruising easily
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Recurrent nosebleeds
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Tiny red spots on the skin (petechiae)
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Excessive sweating, especially at night
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