'I injured my back lifting weights - now I'm living with an incurable disease'

When personal trainer Gemma Seager hurt her back lifting weights she thought it would only be a matter of time and rest before she was back to full health. She was active and although feeling tired she was still regularly running long distances and meeting clients.

But her life was turned upside down after her injury. She says: "I was working out with weights at home when I slipped, and my body twisted at an angle. I immediately felt my back go.

"I assumed it was just a gym injury that would pass, so I dealt with it by resting, doing gentle yoga and dialling back on my running. But every time I thought the pain was easing, it would return. In terms of recovery, I felt as though I was taking two steps forward and one step back."

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The 45-year-old was injured in August 2020 but by mid-December that year it was no better - in fact it was much worse - and she was referred to a physio. She said: "By then, my pain had worsened. It was making me feel nauseous and I was finding walking difficult. I remember ordering a TENS machine on Christmas Eve in the hope of easing the discomfort."

With the country still operating under the Covid pandemic rules Gemma had an online appointment with the physio who told her to use ibuprofen gel and gave her exercises which just made the pain worse. She decided to rest completely and was discharged and told to call again if not better in three months.

Three months later, feeling better after barely moving, she tried some gentle yoga exercises but was left in "agony". She said: "I knew this pain was not normal, so arranged another video call with the physio. I felt she had been quite dismissive the first time round, but I didn’t want to be seen as making an unnecessary fuss.

"She asked me to do some exercises to assess my movement, but I found them impossible. It was not just a question of the pain, I physically couldn’t do what she was asking.

"I had been a personal trainer only a few months before – so it was not that I was weak – but I struggled to lean forward or raise my hips off the ground. Around this time, I was also struggling to sit, and eating with cutlery or even brushing my teeth was painful.

"I was experiencing tingling and shooting pains in my legs. The physio suggested that I needed to relax, that stress was making it worse.

"I wonder now whether all these warning signs would have been picked up sooner had we not been in the middle of a pandemic and I had been able to have an in-person appointment. I was made to feel as if it was all in my head. However, she agreed to refer me for an MRI scan, but there were no appointments available for another three months."

Then in mid-April, 2021, Gemma says she had a terrifying experience in the middle of the night. I woke up feeling as though I had electric shocks going down my legs. I was unable to walk and couldn’t support myself. It was obvious that I was getting worse. By now, I could not sit down for a meal and was having to eat standing up."

Her GP arranged for her MRI scan to be urgently brought forward which revealed she had a collapsed vertebrae and I was kept in hospital for five days while further investigations were carried out. She said: "I was not frightened at this point, I just wanted answers and to be honest, I was grateful that I was being taken seriously.

"I felt validated. Lesions were found on my shoulder and sacrum. Finally, I had an explanation for my pain."

But things changed on June 10 that year when she was called to see the haematologist. She said: "My husband was allowed to come with me for the appointment, so I knew there was going to be bad news. Up until then, due to Covid restrictions, I had been through everything alone."

She was diagnosed with multiple myeloma - an incurable cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow - which left her facing a very different future but one she did not think about at first. She said: "I just had to deal with it in the present, one day after the other. It was only later, when I had started to recover, that it all hit me emotionally."

Gemma, from Norwich, had chemotherapy, and then spent Christmas 2021 in hospital undergoing a stem cell transplant, which was successful. At that point there was still some evidence of disease in her blood, so in April 2022 she started on the targeted treatment lenalidomide, which she has been on since.

She added: "The stem cell transplant put me into menopause with all the discomforts that come with that. I have also experienced some side effects from the lenalidomide, predominantly fatigue and joint aches.

"But thankfully, there is now no sign of disease in my body. The doctors tell me my disease is ‘undetectable’. I know it is incurable, but in my head, I like to think of myself as being in remission."

Gemma is now monitored with blood tests every four weeks but is gradually getting her life back. She has trained as a cancer exercise specialist and completed the London Marathon in April which she said was "very emotional".

She said: "Four years ago I could barely walk, and I didn't think I'd ever be able to run again, let alone complete a marathon! I certainly feel hopeful about the future.

"When I was diagnosed, I was told that living 10 years was a reasonable expectation. But I have seen people who have lived much longer than that. And new treatments mean that I can be hopeful of that too.

"Of course, no one knows what will happen in the future, but I do feel increasingly optimistic. So much so, I am now thinking that I should have taken out a pension!

"Cancer research is incredibly important. We talk about a cure for cancer, but it is not just one disease. It is vital we have different types of drugs – not just chemo – to treat different types of cancer.

"I know that new drugs have become available, even since I was diagnosed, and it is great to have so many options. I know that a few years ago, the situation was bleak for anyone diagnosed with myeloma. Now there are new drugs and more hope. Cancer research is not cheap, but it is saving people’s lives.

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