In August of last year, 18-year-old Brooke Evans of Redditch in Worchestershire found herself with a crippling stomachache after finishing a Chinese takeaway meal. Initially, Evans thought she had an allergy attack or possibly food intolerance, it was a little later on that she and her parents found out that the stomach pains were actually a symptom of a serious, life-threatening cancer called lymphoblastic leukemia.
The Evans family consider themselves to be very lucky to have had their daughter's condition diagnosed early as this proved to have saved the life of the teenager. Brooke said that it was very unusual for her to eat spicy food, but that she was lucky to have eaten spicy Chinese and Indian meals that day that triggered the stomach pains and caused her parents to bring her to the hospital. At first doctors thought these were symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome or sciatica and advised Evans to keep a food diary so they can keep track and possibly identify which food items were making her sick. It was not until the next month that doctors ran tests that lead to the diagnosis of her leukemia.
After confirming her diagnosis, Evans was immediately put on a pioneering drug trial that was being funded at that time by the Cure Leukemia charity. The drug trials included chemotherapy sessions and required her to stay in the hospital for more than three months.
After six months of intensive therapy, Brooke has now been declared to be in remission, but will have to continue low-dose treatment for about two more years. Brooke is determined to raise awareness for lymphoblastic leukemia and she is now working closely with the Cure Leukemia charity, urging people to donate money to the charity so that they can continue with helping people who are suffering from the same type of cancer.
