80-Year-Old Retired Bus Driver’s Symptoms Dismissed For 10 Years As ‘Old Age’; It Was Incurable Blood Cancer

"Little did we know that our world was about to be blown apart," Mellor's daughter, Alyson Yates, tells Lancashire Live.

"My dad suddenly was unable to move and we had to call an ambulance. It came to light that my dad's femur and hip had split open but there was no logical reason for this; he hadn't banged himself or had a fall," she continues.

"On the 25th (of) May (last year), after much investigation, it came to light that my dad had (multiple) myeloma and was very poorly. He wasn't even awake so I couldn't tell him how much I loved him and that he had to fight."

And fight he did. Two months later, he was able to go home a day his daughter says she and their family "never thought we would see."

Advocating for Yourself While Navigating the Medical World

Brian's Dismissed Symptoms

Mellor became ill in October 2020, but his symptoms started years before that 10 years, to be precise. He had visited doctors complaining of aches and pains, but he was repeatedly dismissed; doctors said it was just "old age."

Mellor even had multiple tests done over the years, all of which came back normal. It seemed that no one could explain what was wrong with Mellor something many people with misdiagnosis or dismissed symptoms feel when they do not have answers.

Once Mellor was in the hospital after his mysterious injury, Yates says she had to discuss a DNR (do-not-resuscitate order) with her father’s doctor; she says it was a "shocker" to her, as he was given just days to live.

"We only found out about the cancer the day before and he only came into (the) hospital four days before that," she says. "How can things be this bad so quick?" But the bad news continued.

"We got a call to say come in; dad wasn't going to be pulling through and would not make the weekend," she says. "To this point, we had all been restricted to seeing my dad because of Covid but now we were allowed to be by his side."

It came to light that Mellor had multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in a person's blood. It had gone undetected for years. Yates adds that it is "another reason why a better diagnosis system needs to be found."

Looking back through Mellor's medical history after his diagnosis, it is now thought that Mellor had multiple myeloma some 10 years ago; at that point, it would have been in the smoldering myeloma stage (a precancerous condition that alters certain proteins in blood and/or increases plasma cells in bone marrow, but it does not cause symptoms of disease).

"I cannot emphasize what a shock (that) week had been to us all," Yates says. "How quick the tide had turned in our life. What I can tell you is from my own point of view, the heartbreaking pain I felt I'd never felt pain like it and it was like I could not breathe and my world had crashed into a million pieces."

"Sadly, a lot of families go through this journey leading to their diagnosis," she adds. "Another reason why knowledge, awareness, training and earlier diagnosis is so important."

The disease has done its damage on Mellor's body; he is on chemotherapy every day to give him "some time," according to Yates.

Understanding Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a rare type of blood cancer. When a person has this cancer, white blood cells called plasma cells (the cells that make antibodies to fight infections) in your bone marrow grow out of proportion to healthy cells. Those abnormal cells leave less room for the healthy blood cells your body needs to fight infections. They can also spread to other parts of your body and cause problems with organs, like the kidneys.

SurvivorNet medical experts say that oftentimes, people are diagnosed with this cancer after going to their doctor seeking an answer for persistent tiredness or other unusual symptoms, like in Mellor's case; he was complaining of aches and pains.

The Multiple Phases of Multiple Myeloma

Certain factors increase a person's likelihood of getting multiple myeloma. These risk factors include things such as age (older people tend to get myeloma), family history, gender (men are at a higher risk for this cancer), race (Black people tend to have higher rates of this disease) and a condition called MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance).

MGUS is a condition named simply for the fact that a person has too much of an abnormal protein, called the monoclonal protein, in their bone marrow and blood. MGUS is rare, and the risk that it will turn into multiple myeloma is just 1% each year.

The next step to developing multiple myeloma is called smoldering myeloma; if you recall earlier, this is the condition Mellor's doctors suspect he had prior to his full-blown myeloma diagnosis.

Smoldering myeloma is a disease that often comes before development of full-blown myeloma. In other words, it is very close to becoming active myeloma, but does not have any symptoms. It is characterized by higher levels of abnormal proteins in the blood and plasma cells that make up greater than 10% of the bone marrow. The goal with smoldering myeloma is to keep the disease from becoming active.

The odds that either condition will become cancer are very small, but to be safe, your doctor will probably check you more closely with blood and urine tests, and sometimes a bone marrow biopsy removing and testing a small sample of the spongy material inside your bones.

Making Myeloma Treatment Choices: SurvivorNet's Carefully Constructed Resources

Myeloma is an incurable cancer, which means you will always have this cancer. However, with treatment, it can go into remission and remain undetected for years. But sometimes, the cancer can return or relapse after treatment. If this happens, your doctor can put you on one of the treatments you have already tried again, try a new treatment or recommend that you enroll in a clinical trial.

"Myeloma may become curable," Yates says, "but funds are required for that and funds are required to help those in today's society where there isn't a cure."

Contributing: SurvivorNet staff

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