Jess Battison
Doctors dismissed a man before he was given an incurable diagnosis.
Mart Roe’s feet became so numb that he ended up feeling like he was ‘walking in flippers’ in 2020.
The 62-year-old woke up with a very sore back one morning in August, starting off as a ‘niggly’ pain. This soon turned into a ‘horrendous’ sharp, stabbing pain, so he booked in with a chiropractor in the belief he had slipped a disc or trapped a nerve.
However, the man from Basingstoke said he was in such bad pain he ‘couldn’t even get on the table’. The chiropractor therefore ended up declining treatment and Mart consulted his GP.
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He said he was told the twinge between his shoulder blades was due to a virus and would eventually resolve itself, but it turned out to be a sign of his cancer.
Mart knew it was something more serious when he began experiencing ‘numbness from his chest downwards’.
“I remember pinching myself, and it didn’t hurt as much as you thought it might,” he told PA Real Life. “But my feet were perhaps the most uncomfortable because it felt like they were being squashed into something, like I was walking in flippers.
“I remember my feet felt like blocks of ice when you’ve been out in the snow, but they were really warm when you touched them.”
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Mart was eventually booked In for an emergency MRI scan and the next day, was called with instructions to return to the hospital with an overnight bag.
Days after, in October 2020, having had blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy, the dad was diagnosed with myeloma.
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Myeloma is a type of blood cancer affecting bones and different parts of the body, and the man had ‘never heard of’ it. Myeloma UK says that despite it being one of the most common types, it is difficult to detect, as symptoms often get linked to ageing or minor conditions.
“I had a few tears… it was a lot to take in,” Mart recalled. “The consultant explained that it’s myeloma and there’s no cure for it, and you think of the worst thing, which is dying.
“I was on my own at that time (because of Covid-19 restrictions) and I kept thinking of the family, Kayleigh, my daughter.
“I just thought, ‘God, how am I going to tell them?’.”
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Having experienced several complications following a stem cell transplant in 2021, Mart has since reached remission. And while he is still at risk of infection and is undergoing maintenance chemotherapy, he added that he is ‘living his best life’ and is fronting Myeloma UK’s ‘Know the Warning Signs’ campaign to help the public spot the tell-tale symptoms of myeloma.
“I just live for today,” he said. “If somebody says, ‘You’ve probably got five years’, why can’t I be the one that doesn’t have five years?
“I’ve always said, ‘I’m going to live until I’m 100’.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
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For more information or to contact Myeloma UK, visit myeloma.org.uk/signs or call its infoline on 0800 980 3332.