acute promyelocytic leukemia: 'i was just so desperate to hold on to life'

michelle burleigh was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia in 2017, a rare and aggressive type of acute myeloid leukemia where too many immature blood-forming cells in the blood and bone marrow lead to too few platelets and deficiencies in clotting. she had to push the system to get a diagnosis and by the time she made it to the cancer centre, she was told she had an “85 to 90 per cent chance of full recovery” as long as she made it through the first 10 days of treatment.”  

now the 41-year-old georgetown, ont. woman, a business advisor in the financial industry for 20 years, has launched a website, soyouvegotcancer.ca , and is publishing a book this november — the road to courageous living: learning audacious self-love and the skills to harness personal success — to help others through their cancer journey. this is her story.

i took those for five days before i went to my family doctor — i had to take that entire week off work because i couldn’t drive because of side effects. she asked me a bunch of questions, confirmed the emergency doctor’s assessment of a locked hip and changed the medications to something that would allow me to function. one of the medications that she prescribed me was called meloxicam, which is ibuprofen-based. (editor’s note: ibuprofen can increase the risk of bleeding, particularly if platelets are low)

i got my daughter ready for school, dropped her off and i drove myself to the georgetown hospital. i sat down with the triage nurse and told her the story: that i locked a muscle in my hip, then started taking this medication and about 24 hours afterwards, i started bruising. i also mentioned that i was also having heavy menstrual bleeding. she said, “ so you’re here for a heavy period .”

i told her that i needed to see a doctor. her response was, “well, we’re not very busy this morning, so i guess we can take a couple of vials of blood.” the registration nurse comes in, registers me and tells me to go sit in the waiting room to be called in. i leave the triage area and go straight into the washroom because i’m bleeding, and i stayed in there until i heard my name called.

about an hour-and-a-half later, the emergency doctor came into the room and asked if i needed someone there with me to have the conversation, and if there was someone who could pick my children up after school.  it’s the worst case scenario, isn’t it,  i said .  and she said, yeah it is, you’re in pretty bad shape and you’re going to need to immediately go to a cancer centre to start treatment.

getting married to her then-boyfriend, marvin, was one of michelle burleigh’s motivations to live. supplied

i called my husband marvin — who was at work — and told him that he needed to drop everything and come to the hospital. and he did. then he and i drove to juravinski cancer centre in hamilton, and the drive was awful. my mind was racing faster than it ever has before because my life immediately changed. i needed to make arrangements with all of the people in my life to make sure that the rest of it continued to run in my absence. i had to make arrangements for my daughter to be picked up from school that day. and i was frantic about my job. i called my boss and said, please don’t stop sending me work . i was just… honestly, i think i was just so desperate to hold onto life.

‘i needed to have non-negotiables’

for anyone worried about their health, nobody is going to care more about your health than you do. there are too many patients out there who are treated the way that i was leading up to my diagnosis. don’t let people invalidate or dismiss your concerns. keep asking questions until you get the answer that feels right. and give your intuition credit — being connected to it could very well save your life.