'GP said I had a virus but my vertebra has disappeared and I'm dying'
A father whose feet were so numb he felt like he was 'walking in flippers' before receiving an incurable blood cancer diagnosis has said he plans to defy expectations and live to 100-years-old. Mart Roe, 62, a duty manager for a security team at a shopping centre, had been experiencing agonising back pain for weeks when he started losing the feeling in his feet and lower half of his body in 2020.
After his symptoms were initially dismissed as a virus by a GP, he says, he sought further medical advice and was soon told he had the incurable blood cancer myeloma in October that year. He said scans revealed his T3 vertebra was 'missing', he had four fractures in his back and he was on the verge of paralysis, and his treatment plan included radiotherapy, chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant in 2021.
Mart, who lives in Basingstoke, Hampshire, experienced several complications post-transplant, including countless infections which left him in hospital for weeks, but he has since reached remission. While he is still undergoing maintenance chemotherapy, Mart said he is 'living (his) best life' and is now fronting Myeloma UK's 'Know the Warning Signs' campaign to help the public spot the tell-tale symptoms of myeloma.
Speaking about his perspective on life now, Mart told PA Real Life: 'I just live for today. If somebody says, 'You've probably got five years', why can't I be the one that doesn't have five years? I've always said, 'I'm going to live until I'm 100'.'
In August 2020, Mart, who lives with his 39-year-old wife Kayleigh, woke up one morning with a very sore upper back, which initially felt like a 'niggly' pain. Soon enough, it turned into a 'horrendous' sharp, stabbing pain, and he booked an appointment with a chiropractor, believing it was a slipped disc or trapped nerve in his back.
'I went to the chiropractor to see if they could help, but I was in so much pain I couldn't even get on the table,' Mart explained.
With the chiropractor declining treatment because of the pain, Mart said he consulted his GP but was told the twinge between his shoulder blades was caused by a virus and would sort itself out eventually. When he started experiencing 'numbness from (his) chest downwards', however, he knew it was something more serious.
'I remember pinching myself, and it didn't hurt as much as you thought it might,' he said. 'But my feet were perhaps the most uncomfortable because it felt like they were being squashed into something, like I was walking in flippers.
'I remember my feet felt like blocks of ice when you've been out in the snow, but they were really warm when you touched them.'
Eventually Mart was booked in for an emergency MRI scan at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and, the next day, he received a call telling him to go back to the hospital with an overnight bag. Days later, in October 2020, after having blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy, Mart was diagnosed with myeloma – a cancer he had 'never heard of'.
'I had a few tears… it was a lot to take in,' he said. 'The consultant explained that it's myeloma and there's no cure for it, and you think of the worst thing, which is dying. I was on my own at that time (because of Covid-19 restrictions) and I kept thinking of the family, Kayleigh, my daughter. I just thought, 'God, how am I going to tell them?'.'
Myeloma is an incurable blood cancer which occurs in the bone marrow, and symptoms include persistent or unexplained pain, particularly in the back or ribs, fatigue, unexplained weight loss and numbness in the feet, hands or legs. Despite being one of the most common types of blood cancer, myeloma is difficult to detect as symptoms are often linked to general ageing or minor conditions, Myeloma UK says. For Mart, he underwent radiotherapy to reduce the swelling of the 'bulging' discs in his spine, before starting six months of chemotherapy, which caused side effects of fatigue and nausea.
During this time, he had to wear a back brace for 14 weeks to 'stabilise' his spine – which he described as his 'tortoise shell' – and was forced to use a cane or walking frame. 'Where his vertebra had gone, the T3 one, the discs had bulged either side and it had shut off his spinal cord, which is why he was numb from the chest down,' Kayleigh explained.
'He had four fractures in his spine as well, but we didn't actually know this until he was discharged.'
After his back brace was taken off, Mart had to learn how to walk again after muscle wastage, and then he had a stem cell transplant in November 2021, which caused him to lose 10kg in nine days. Before the transplant, during the process of harvesting stem cells, Mart said he developed blood clots caused by a condition called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), and afterwards, he was left with the 'immune system of a newborn', meaning he was susceptible to infections.
At his worst, he said he was in hospital with four simultaneous infections – Covid, RSV and influenza type A and B. 'I just had to take everything one step at a time,' Mart said.
'I was just trying to be confident and positive.'
Mart said he started a diary after his transplant to monitor his symptoms, recording his daily temperature and blood pressure readings and diet. While he is still at risk of infection and currently undergoing maintenance chemotherapy, Mart is now in remission and determined to live life to the fullest. He proposed to his partner Kayleigh in March 2021 and they got married in May 2023, describing it as 'the best day', and Mart is planning a trip to Dubai for Kayleigh's 40th next year.
He wants to raise more awareness of myeloma with the charity Myeloma UK and encourage others to get any unusual symptoms checked as soon as possible. Reflecting on his diagnosis, Mart said: 'All of a sudden you go in with a bad back, and then the next thing in your head is you dying.
'But for me, I'm grateful that I wake up every morning and I don't take things for granted. I always tell people that if you're going to do something, do it, make the most of what's now, because you just never know (what might happen).
'I've got myeloma, where there's no cure, but it's treatable, and five years down the line, I'm here living my best life.'
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