A teenage girl whose leg ached as she walked home from school has told of her devastating double diagnosis.
Emily Kyles, 18, from Liberton in Edinburgh, went to A&E for a sore leg - but was told hours later that she had sepsis and leukaemia.
The teen had been battling extreme fatigue for several months, but put it down to the stress of her final year at school and looming exams. However, in May 2023, a pain in her leg forced her to stay in bed for three days, worsening each day.
Initially, her GP dismissed the symptoms as a virus - but as the pain escalated, Emily was urged to visit A&E. Blood tests showed irregularities and after further CT scans and X-rays, Emily was transferred from the Royal Infirmary's A&E to the acute medical unit after an 11-hour wait.
The 18-year-old thought her tiredness and aching legs were down to exam stress (Emily Kyles)
Emily, pictured with her mum Amy, was told she had sepsis and leukaemia (Emily Kyles)At 5.30am, Emily was informed that she was suffering not only from a blood infection but also from the blood cancer leukaemia. Emily has now spoken spoke about her time waiting in the hospital that night, and told Edinburgh Live: "Machines kept going off and beeping constantly as my blood pressure kept dropping. People were coming in every ten minutes to do my observations."
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On being told of the heart-breaking diagnosis, she said: "For me, it just didn't click with me what they were saying. I just said 'okay'. I was so unwell at that point. My mum instantly broke into tears and had to go and phone my dad. I'm not sure if I hadn't had the sepsis, we don't know when or if I'd have been diagnosed with the leukaemia."
Emily said along with the tiredness and leg pain, she also had bruises all over her body, which is a common symptom of leukaemia. She said: "Looking back at the pictures in the months before, I did look ill. But no one clocked then." Emily was 17 at the time and had been planned on going on her first holiday abroad with her friends. She also had a place at Queen Margaret University to train as a primary school teacher - but was not able to take up her place as she spent months in hospital.
After going into hospital on May 5 last year, it would be October before she was sent home. The blood infection turned out to be sepsis and Emily had to be put in a medically induced coma for a few days. After eight days, she was moved from intensive care in the adult's ward to the Sick Kids to be treated for the cancer.
Her CT scan surprised a lot of people working in the radiography department. Emily recalled: "They remember me from my scan - before they had even met me. A lot of them saw it. They were surprised that I'm here now after seeing it. The infection was in my whole body."
The sepsis had been so severe that her organs had started to shut down. Despite being weak from the infection, Emily then had to start chemotherapy straight away. She was unable to walk or even hold her phone. From going into AandE, It took Emily five months before she could walk again.
She said: "Because of the sepsis, I basically had to learn everything again. I couldn't lift my arms, I couldn't lift up my leg, I couldn't even lift up my head. I got hoisted about. Because I couldn't walk, I got hoisted into a wheelchair and they would take me into the garden of the children's ward. It was amazing, just to get fresh air and feel the sun. When I was allowed out at first, I had been inside for one month."
Emily praised her parents for the strength they gave her during treatment, and said: "I would not have been as strong as they were. they were there every single day, they'd swap over and take turns to stay with me. They didn't show they were sad at all." She added: "My best friend Kirsty came every single day also. We worked together in Tortilla, and they let her take a few months off so she could spend time with me as much as she could."
The separation from her younger siblings, Olivia, 16, and Lewis, 13, was tough for Emily during her hospital stay. She finally returned home in October 2023, coinciding with her 18th birthday. Following a bone marrow transplant in December, Emily spent Christmas and New Year in Glasgow for recovery before coming back home in January.
Looking ahead, Emily is eager to make up for lost time and go on holiday, although she must remain in the UK for around a year post-stem cell transplant due to her weakened immune system. Reflecting on her journey, she said: "You have to start all over again - it's like the immune system of a baby. I am currently cancer-fee and they assume it's to continue to go that way. They do a bone marrow aspirate and that's where they would find the cancer if there is any."
Emily is raising funds for the children's cancer ward at Sick Kids, the Lochranza ward, where she spent six months. She has set up a Gofundme page, and has already beaten her £3,000 fundraising target.
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