Mum put on life support after infected finger led to ‘devastating’ diagnosis

A mother-of-three noticed her finger had become infected as it was “all swollen and green” and was put in an induced coma after a “devastating” leukaemia diagnosis which left her battling for life.

Now celebrating being almost six years cancer-free, Peppie Scobbie, 53, who lives in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire, said she did not “feel right” while holidaying in Portugal in July 2017 – after which she returned home and noticed her finger had gone green and was “swollen” and “throbbing”. She has said “it was never an option to give up”.

After antibiotics failed to treat the apparent infection, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) – a type of blood cancer – aged 47, and underwent three “intense” rounds of chemotherapy, which made her hair “fall out in clumps”. During the first round of treatment, Peppie developed pneumonia and sepsis and was put in an induced coma and on life support, which made doctors question “whether she was going to make it”.

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Amazingly, Peppie “bounced back”, completed all three rounds of chemotherapy, and was told she was cancer-free just before Christmas in 2017. Peppie then received a stem cell transplant from her older brother Tom McClure in January 2018 – a form of treatment for certain types of cancer – as she knew that if she did not have this, she would “relapse and die”.

Thanks to her treatment, she was able to marry Stevie, a 51-year-old foreman, in 2020, and her brother-turned-donor Tom walked her down the aisle. Now, despite being told she will be in “chronic pain for the rest of her life” and suffering with severe side effects as a result of her medication, she will soon celebrate being six years