Eddie Gunn has been living with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive type of non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, since May 2006. His form of lymphoma is particularly rare and, sadly, incurable. However, despite such a devastating diagnosis, four years later Eddie has managed to maintain a wonderfully optimistic and inspirational outlook on life.
Eddie, now 67, lives in Bedfordshire and says his diagnosis was made after his wife noticed a lump on his neck. “I went to see my GP who immediately referred me to Milton Keynes Hospital where I had a biopsy, a CT scan and an MRI scan but these were inconclusive,” recalls Eddie.
Due to the vagaries of the NHS, Eddie had to be referred for further investigation to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, even though this could have been undertaken at his local hospital in Milton Keynes.”It was all rather baffling,” says Eddie. “Because I had to go to Luton I had a two-week wait at an extremely worrying time.”
Eddie’s consultant diagnosed him with MCL at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. “When the consultant told me that I had MCL it didn’t really mean anything,” he explains. However, on hearing that MCL is an incurable cancer, Eddie and his family started to understand the repercussions of his diagnosis. “The consultant said that MCL can’t be cured but that he would do his best to get me into remission. It was a very difficult time,” recalls Eddie.
Following a lumbar puncture Eddie embarked on what was to be a long and arduous journey to find a drug that would put his MCL into remission. “Taking my first course of drugs was very strange,” he recalls, “although I had to swallow them – all 14 of the tablets – I had to use gloves to put them in my mouth.”
