Aberdeen man looks to raise awareness on World Lymphoma day
Mike was diagnosed with the rare CTCL 5 years after he began to develop symptoms
An Aberdeen man with a rare form of blood cancer is looking to raise awareness of the condition.
It comes on world lymphoma day (September 15).
Mike Taylor has Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma (CTCL) which cannot be cured, but can be treated - but that can only happen once someone has been diagnosed.
Despite developing symptoms in 1999, Mike wasn't formally diagnosed until five years later.
The symptoms
This is because of the rarity of the cancer, its symptoms, and the fact none of his blood tests showed evidence of the disease early on.
Conditions manifest themselves in the skin and can often be mistaken for psoriasis, eczema or related skin conditions.
Another symptom to look out for is enlarged lymph nodes.
This not only slows down diagnosis but means that patients are also living with a painful and unsightly skin condition for years that does not respond to any of the prescribed treatments.
Mike's story
Mike told Northsound News:
"It started off as a rash on my back, I went to see my GP and we tried every lotion and potion under the sun but I basically gave up and was refereed to dermatology
"Eventually I was diagnosed."
On the impact of the cancer, Mike said:
"It's like the worst psoriasis ever, but even worse.
"It can cover your whole body and it develops over time, the growth areas in your skin develop, but as long as it's kept under control using creams and light treatment then you could go through most of your life like that."
"Diagnosing lymphoma is like an exact science, because it's not easy to pinpoint the lymphoma" Mike continued.
"There are over 60 types and sub-types of lymphoma.
"You would think it would be easy to pinpoint it, it's a blood cancer, take the bloods and it's there.
"But no, all the bloods I've ever had didn't point towards my type of lymphoma.
"It really takes a lot of persistent from your GP."
The big picture
Blood cancers affect people of all ages and there are over 100 different types of the disease. Across the world, more than 1 million people are diagnosed with blood cancers each year and around 700,000 people die from them during the same period. In the UK, 120 people are diagnosed and 40 people die from blood cancer every day, making it the 3rd biggest cancer killer in the country.
With diagnosis times even more delayed at the moment due to COVID, and face-to-face appointments so hard to come by, charities say it is more important now than ever that we are discussing these topics.