When thirty-six year old Chris Longson found himself dealing with a string of infections he didn’t think twice when his doctor wanted to do a few tests. When he was referred to a haematology specialist in Waikato Hospital, Chris couldn’t help but wonder if it was something serious.
“I had talked about my blood tests with my doctor and had a fair idea what they might mean. Being a biologist I guess I was better equipped than most people to make sense of it all,” says Chris.
He was surprised he would be starting chemotherapy within a few weeks and would undergo six months of treatment.
Chris decided to continue working throughout his treatment to save his annual leave for when he needed to recover from his stem cell transplant.
“In hindsight I’m not sure it was a great idea to keep working but I think I got off lightly with the side effects of treatment. There were some days I was pretty wacked out and the steroids made me feel pretty horrible!” says Chris.
Chris knew he was quite young to be diagnosed with myeloma but he realised just how young he was when he started treatment and got in touch with LBC.
“The team at Waikato Hospital seemed to think I was possibly the youngest myeloma patient ever treated there. Then I went to an LBC myeloma support group and I was the youngest by about 20 years!” says Chris.
Although Chris knew that myeloma is an incurable blood cancer he was encouraged by the attitude of his haematologist and medical team who were upbeat about how manageable the disease is.
A cancer diagnosis was something Chris never thought he would deal with at such a young age however he decided to be as positive as everyone else around him.
“I didn’t think that sitting around worrying would help, so although I am always conscious of having myeloma, I just decided get on with things.”
One thing that did cause Chris stress was the uncertainty of not knowing when his stem cell transplant would be. Being a university lecturer, Chris wanted to plan ahead however the date was changed multiple times to ensure he was well enough to have the procedure.
“After worrying about it for months, my transplant ended up happening at the best time. Classes had finished for the summer so I had time off and it meant I was able to recover when the weather was warmer,” says Chris.
While Chris recovered from his stem cell transplant he had plenty of support from his wife and son who came from Thames to stay with him along with his parents and sister.
“I wasn’t very good company most of the time but it was still nice to have them there,” says Chris.
Chris and his wife moved to Thames not long before he was diagnosed but despite not knowing too many people, their local community offered support where they could.
“We had a lot of support from Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand who helped a lot with things like travel expenses and keeping in touch with my wife in particular which was great,” says Chris.
Chris says he now knows how important it is to recover and ensures he takes time off to rest if he needs to.
“My work has been really supportive throughout my treatment but it’s great to be back working full time and supporting my family again,” says Chris.
Now that he is into a routine again, Chris has looked at his priorities in life and decided to spend his time being with his family and focusing on a full recovery.
“When we first brought our house I thought I had so much to get done but then I realised I would rather spend time with my family more than anything else,” says Chris.