The Chesterfield family are joining the Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinaemia (WM) community to help raise £25,000 for a WM UK specific telephone support line which will be staffed by a WM healthcare professional offering expert information, advice or simply a listening ear.

For those of you who know me well  will appreciate this is not an easy tale to tell.  I am not good at sharing information about myself and was brought up to “not make a fuss but get on with it” but here goes.

I am writing this story not for sympathy but to help others who are about to start their WM journey.  In 2018 I was diagnosed with WM, a rare Non Hodgkin B Lymphoma (blood cancer).  Anyone who has been given a cancer diagnosis will understand my devastation when told by my consultant I had cancer, there is no cure, and perhaps I should start making plans. Everything became a bit of a blur.   I was given a booklet on Lymphoma which had one page specific to WM! I desperately needed someone to talk to about my diagnosis, but my GP knew nothing about the condition and the hospital could not find me a WM “buddy”.  I approached Lymphoma Action but they too could not find a match.  My wonderful children did some research for me and found out about a leading specialist in WM, Dr Shirley D’Sa at University College London Hospital and from there I discovered WM UK and attended a Conference in London run by WM UK.  This opened up a world of WM experts.

During the pandemic WM UK organised Zoom conferences lead by Clinicians with expertise in all areas of WM.  I have now found understanding and acceptance of my diagnosis.  However, I do not want anyone else to have to go through the trauma and lack of knowledge and understanding of the condition that I initially experienced.  A WM UK telephone support line would be a life line to anyone newly diagnosed.

Team Chesterfield, Lucy and Al, Amy and Javier, Michelle and Will, Nigel and I will walk the 32.5 miles, with a total ascent of 1312m ( Ben Nevis is 1345m) so hilly, cross country from Haslemere (where Lucy our eldest daughter and family live) to Lasham our family home.  We will start at  first light on the 2nd April and aim to get back to Lasham by 6pm (hopefully!).

Please give what you can to help the WM community raise the £25,000 to launch the WM UK telephone support line, ensuring people affected by WM have somewhere to turn, to find answers, support and reassurance.

Thank you for reading my story.  Mary