'Medics thought my symptoms were postnatal - but a blood test changed everything'

A mother who was given a life-altering diagnosis just weeks after giving birth was initially told her symptoms were postnatal. Elizabeth Gibson-Bell, 27, a primary school teacher who lives in Littlehampton, West Sussex, had a “normal” pregnancy and gave birth to her daughter Lydia on January 1 2023.

Two weeks later, Elizabeth developed symptoms including dizziness, bruising, and mastitis – inflammation of breast tissue – but was told by her GP that it was “nothing to worry about”. She continued to feel unwell and started noting down her symptoms, but when she could not even carry her 10lb baby up the stairs due to feeling too weak, she knew “this wasn’t normal”.

After having check-up appointments and blood tests at Worthing Hospital, Elizabeth was told she has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) – a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow – in February 2023 and she would need to undergo chemotherapy “immediately”.

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She described the first round of chemotherapy as “the hardest eight weeks” of her life, and she then faced seven more rounds that year, with only two weeks at home in between each one. Elizabeth is now in remission and undergoing the final phase of her treatment before she will start two years of maintenance chemotherapy – and if she stays in remission for five years after that, Elizabeth said she will be “considered cured” and “could be a new human”.

Although the past year has been “traumatic”, she said the maintenance chemotherapy feels like “freedom” as she will be able to spend more time with her husband Harold, 28, a plumber, and Lydia at home – and they are looking forward to having their first staycation