‘Everyone needs to be aware of the symptoms’: Pioneering clinical trial helped dad-of-two Ian live with rare blood cancer

IT started with a bit of pain moving a sofa during a spot of redecoration.

But what seemed to be a DIY mishap proved to be drastically more serious for Larkhall man Ian Fleming.

He was discovered to have fractured almost all the bones in his upper body as a result of undetected rare blood cancer myeloma.

Late diagnosis left doctors fearing for dad-of-two Ian’s life. Now though he’s battled back to health thanks to a pioneering clinical trial – although he has been left two inches shorter as a result of the bone damage.

“I’ve always kept fit and been a strong guy,” said Ian, 48. “So I thought it was just a pulled muscle in my chest at first.

“Over the next few weeks it spread to my back and I went to the GP who thought it was muscle spasm and gave me painkillers.

“But it got worse and I went to the GP and the hospital A&E department repeatedly, each time being sent away with painkillers.

“Finally I was walking with sticks and then was in so much pain I was bedbound and needed to get morphine from the GP to even be able to get up to the hospital.”

It was on that final occasion that Ian was given an X-ray and the shocking truth was revealed. It showed up multiple fractures on bones in his spine, ribs and skull.

“When I asked what was meant by multiple, they said it was pretty much them all apart from the long bones in my arm.

“I’d gone to an osteopath who’d tried to manipulate my back. I hadn’t realised the crunching noises I heard were actually my bones fracturing.”

Although myeloma, which is incurable but treatable, was suspected, it took further tests to confirm the diagnosis.

“Like a lot of people, I had never ever heard of it,” says Ian, who has kids Amy, 15, and Sarah, 10, with wife Andrea. “The word cancer is obviously a shock and I know mine was so advanced I could have died. But I tried to be positive and I was really lucky to be accepted for a new clinical trial. It was basically a four-pronged attack that threw everything at it.”

The Myeloma UK-funded trial included a stem cell transplant. And while Ian doesn’t know what his outcome would have been with conventional treatment, it proved highly effective.

He has been easing himself back into work and even on to the golf course as well as being able to enjoy family life once again.

He has been left shorter, though, is still in pain and may require further treatment to inject liquid bone cement into his spine to stabilise the collapsed vertebrae.

Speaking during Myeloma Awareness Week, he says there needs to be increased recognition.

“There’s often a real delay in diagnosis, as there was in my case and that can be vital. It often hits older people so the medical staff didn’t think to test me.

“They need to have it on their radar and everyone needs to be aware of the symptoms.”

maw.myeloma.org.uk