Frankie-Ella Lloyd, 17, who lives in Essex, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a type of blood cancer, in September 2021 when she was just 15 – but on Thursday she rang the bell at Broomfield Hospital for her final chemotherapy treatment which she described as “the best day of (her) life”.
Her symptoms included swelling on the right side of her jaw, “purple, red, and black” dots on her legs, dizziness, and extreme fatigue, however, when her mother Victoria Macdonald, 42, a carer, took Frankie-Ella to the GP, they were sent home with antibiotics and told she was “just a lazy teenager”. Her symptoms persisted, to the point where she was passing out regularly and “screaming in agony”, but she felt “no-one was listening” to her. READ MORE: Cork woman's Christmas saved by kindness of stranger after dog ate her passport The jaw swelling prompted a trip to the dentist, where they were then told they needed to go to hospital – and just hours later after blood tests, Frankie-Ella was diagnosed with AL