BRIDE-to-be Salma Shah had been eagerly planning her wedding when she suddenly came down with a cold.
The 45-year-old thought it was due to stress but was forced to start organising her funeral just weeks later after receiving a devastating diagnosis. Time is now running out to save her life.
Salma, from Watford, Hertfordshire, tells Sun Health: “It all happened so quickly.
“I went from planning my wedding to sitting in a hospital writing my will and organising my funeral.”
The rent and home ownership recovery manager was due to tie the knot with fiancé Marlon, 43, on May 3, 2025.
But in January, her whole word came crashing down.
Salma had started off with a cold and chest infection, then a lump behind her ear, before suffering with night sweats and fatigue.
When her neck swelled up, she suddenly started to fear the worst.
“I used to run in the morning, go to the gym in the evening and also do Muay Thai, but quickly, I found the energy zapped out of me,” she says.
“I thought it was the perimenopause, but I kept getting ill with infections and colds.
“When my neck swelled dramatically, I knew something much worse was going on.
“I kept telling my colleagues not to worry about how I looked, as I thought it was just the mumps.
“But the doctors called that same evening telling me to get to the hospital immediately.”
After a series of tests, Salma was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
More than 400 adults are diagnosed every year in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK.
I want to spend the rest of my life with the love of my life. Marlon is the reason I’m fighting this battle
Salma ShahSalma, who was forced to call off her big day, says: “The weekend before, I was trying on wedding dresses and I had everything booked and planned.
“We were getting married in a few months, so I had no choice but to cancel the wedding.
“I felt absolutely gutted.
“I had been waiting to send out invites, but that same day, I had to send everything back – my dress, the bridesmaid dresses, all of it.
“I just sat there having a mini meltdown.”
Jam PressSalma with the ‘love of her life’, fiancé Marlon[/caption] Jam PressShe was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer in January – four months before her big day[/caption] Her hospital treatment has made her feet swell upJam PressDoctors soon discovered the cancer had spread to her brain and spine, so she started chemotherapy right away.
While it didn’t initially work, after four rounds, the tumours had gone.
Currently, there is less than one per cent of cancer in her bone marrow, though her body will continue to produce cancer cells until she receives a stem cell transplant.
She’s working with charity DKMS to help find her a donor, online and in-person, which will help save her life.
But matches are rare, with only seven per cent of the UK on the register, and only 16 per cent of those are from an ethnic background like Salma.
It is a race against the clock as she is quickly running out of treatment options; continued chemotherapy will only delay the inevitable.
Warning signs of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
ACUTE lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
It starts from white blood cells called lymphocytes and usually develops quickly over days or weeks.
Around 790 people are diagnosed with ALL every year in the UK.
But cases of leukaemia generally are rising. Since the early 1990s, incidence rates have increased by around 15 per cent in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK.
There is a similar trend in the United States, particularly in teenagers. A report by the American Cancer Society estimated there will be 66,890 new leukaemia cases and 23,540 deaths in 2025.
Dr Keith Pratz, MD, director of the Leukemia Program at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, told Blood Cancers Today: “Incidence rates of leukaemia are rising in adults based on SEER data going back as far as 1975.
“Many believe these are changes due to children and young adults living longer over that period, with death from other causes going down.
“There is a small but meaningful increase in younger adults with leukaemia, and we need improved reporting of risks found in these young adults to improve our understanding of this issue.”
The most common symptoms of leukaemia include:
Feeling weak or tired Shortness of breath Pale skin A high temperature or fever Picking up or not being able to shake off infections easily Bruising and bleeding easily Swelling of your lymph nodes Pain in your bones or joints Feeling full or pain in your tummy Weight lossMost people with these symptoms don’t have leukaemia, but it’s important to get them checked by your GP.
Some people also experience no symptoms at all, or very minor ones which are easily brushed aside.
Source: Cancer Research UK
“It’s the kind of thing you think will never happen to you,” Salma, whose feet and legs have swollen in hospital, says.
“Without chemo, the cancer will grow very quickly.
“And there’s no telling if it will get used to the treatment, so things could change quite quickly if I don’t find a match.
“I’m relying on strangers to give me a second chance at life.
“Finding a donor would mean I can focus on my future, walk down the aisle and spend the rest of my life with the love of my life.
“Marlon is the reason I’m fighting this battle.
“For now, I want to use the time I have left well.
“Regardless of the outcome, we’re still planning to get married once I’m in a fit enough state – donor or not.”
Jam PressSalma has had chemotherapy and is now waiting for a life-saving stem cell transplant[/caption] Jam PressShe was forced to call off her wedding but hopes to reschedule it if she finds a donor[/caption] Jam Press‘I’m relying on strangers to give me a second chance at life,’ she says[/caption]You can find out more about becoming a stem cell donor on the DKMS website.
You simply need to answer a few questions online, order an at-home swab kit, return it, and join the register.
If you are a potential match, a team member will be in touch. A blood sample is then taken.
In 90 per cent of donations, stem cells are collected directly from the bloodstream in an outpatient clinic without surgery.
In the remaining 10 per cent, the stem cells are collected from your pelvic bone under general anaesthetic.
The collected blood stem cells are transplanted to the patient in a procedure similar to a blood transfusion.
Your job is then done and you will have given someone a second chance at life.
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