Mum died of leukaemia on Xmas Day just 4 weeks after her diagnosis
A YOUNG mother died on Christmas Day – just four weeks after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukaemia.
Kirsten Hawksey’s family had urged her to go to the doctor after she noticed unexplained bruising on her legs.
The 23-year- old dental nurse, who had a 15-month-old daughter, finally agreed to visit the GP and received a devastating verdict.
Blood tests showed she had acute promyelocytic leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. The diagnosis, at the end of November, was even more difficult to comprehend because she had been feeling so well. She was immediately admitted to Royal University Hospital in Liverpool to begin chemotherapy.
In a post on Facebook, an upbeat Miss Hawksey thanked everyone who had persuaded her to visit her doctor. On December 3 she wrote: ‘On Tuesday I was diagnosed with leukaemia and have started chemotherapy today.
‘This is by all means not a cry for sympathy because that’s not like me as you will be aware...but more so awareness (sic) not to ignore any symptom! If anything I feel more lucky than unlucky. Just wanted to thank you all.’
It was to be her last Facebook message. On Christmas Eve Miss Hawksey developed a lung infection and was transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester. The next day she suffered a devastating bleed on the brain and her family made the heartbreaking decision to turn off her life support.
Yesterday her father Neil, 39, told how in the days before the diagnosis his daughter had celebrated her birthday and felt completely ‘normal’. ‘She was fit and well apart from this bruising,’ he said. ‘But it got to the point when she showed us her legs and we said “You need to go to the doctor’s”.’ He said she had ‘idolised’ her baby daughter, Penelope, and had never given up fighting the disease, which affects just 200 people in the UK every year. Most respond well to early treatment.
‘Kirsten was not the type of girl who would moan or complain,’ he said. ‘She wasn’t a “Why me?” type. She was so strong-willed and she just planned to fight it and get on with life.’
He said he and his wife Emma and their son Jack, 16, would do everything they could to ensure that Penelope ‘ never forgets her mum’.