The young woman attributed the rash on her chest to the stress of a new house and starting a new job. But it turned out to be a symptom of an aggressive blood cancer, writes Iba 27-year-old Faith Hinitt learned the shocking diagnosis after her dentist advised her to see a doctor for a blood test. She did so after Faith failed to take antibiotic treatment for a gum infection.
The assistant manager said she noticed an itchy, red rash on her chest around the time she bought the property, so she attributed the symptom to stress. Besides, she felt extreme fatigue, night sweats and hip pain. Again, Faith thought it was anxiety and a change in birth control.
That all changed when a “really bad” gum infection didn’t respond to antibiotics, and her dentist recommended she see a doctor. Two days later, she went to the emergency room, where they ran blood tests and gave her a devastating diagnosis – acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive type of blood cancer.
“When you’re 25, fit, young, healthy and you’ve just bought your first house, you don’t expect anything like this. It’s devastating to get this news. To be honest, I don’t think it fully dawned on me until six months later because I was so sick,” recalls Faith, who comes from the town of Retford in the English county of Nottinghamshire.
AML is a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells. The word “acute” means that it progresses quickly and aggressively and requires immediate treatment. Symptoms of AML usually develop over a few weeks and include feeling tired or weak, frequent infections, unexplained weight loss and paleness. Almost 80 per cent of people diagnosed with AML in the UK do not survive more than five years.
“The rash was on my chest and it was itchy. I remember scratching, it was basically red, inflamed spots. Looking back, the rashes were there because I was sick,” says Faith. At the time, however, she attributed them to the stress of moving. “I just got promoted at work and I’m buying a house. Those are two huge life changes at once. Buying a house alone is very stressful, so I put my tiredness down to that,” she added.
“I was having night sweats, but I changed birth control so I thought it was because of her change. I chalked it up to hormones, as any normal 25-year-old girl would. It doesn’t occur to you that these are all symptoms of blood cancer,” she said.
“One week before the diagnosis, I gums were bleeding and I had a really nasty infection. I went to the emergency dental clinic, where they gave me antibiotics, but they did not work. When I returned there, they told me that my body was not responding to the treatment in the usual way,” she recalled.
The young woman heard the shocking diagnosis on October 7, 2023. “My dentist really helped save my life by urging me to see a doctor,” says Faith.
Since then, she underwent several cycles of chemotherapy and in September 2024, she underwent a stem cell transplant. He is currently waiting for his second stem cell transplant, from which he promises that he will go into remission (a stage without symptoms of the disease).
“I’m nervous because a stem cell transplant is a really difficult treatment, but I’m also full of anticipation. I’ve had people write to me on social media who have also had it and have been in remission for 10 years. I’ve been asking myself for the last few years if there will ever be a treatment that works and if I’ll be trapped in this cycle forever. But now I feel real hope. This transplant is my best chance for remission,” she confessed.
Faith is now urging other people experiencing similar symptoms not to hesitate to see a doctor. “Even if you think some little thing doesn’t mean anything, go get it checked. I feel like we all know our bodies, but we ignore things. If I can give you any advice, it’s that you should listen to your body” she said.
