Lou Willett (b1994)
By the time Diana-Louise Willett was 18, she had been on one of life’s most traumatic journeys.
Then the catering student at Grantham College became determined fewer people would suffer as she did.
Born at Long Bennington, where she attended the village school, she passed to go to KGGS. Everything was going perfectly until January 12th 2010.
There had been some hints previously. She would break out in bruises for no reason. After their dog sat on her knee, there would be paw prints on her legs.
Sometimes she felt dizzy. She weighed seven stone and was frequently breathless. Her GP had dismissed this as teenage angst.
But on the 12th she saw a different doctor who sent her straight to Grantham Hospital’s Kingfisher Ward. They discovered an enlarged spleen.
But then came an ominous sign.
She said: “The medical staff called me and my mother to a private room for a chat. Never a good sign.
“They told me I had a serious blood condition. They said it was leukaemia although at that stage didn’t know what strain.”
Lou was transferred to QMC, Nottingham, where her blood count was 12-14. It should have been 4.
Her platelet count, a test to measure how many platelets that help blood to clot, you have in your blood was 17. It should have been 180-160.
In effect, she hardly had an immune system.
She spent 15 days in QMC and a Hickman line, a central venous catheter used for the administration of chemotherapy or other medications, as well as for the withdrawal of blood for analysis, was fitted.
Her kidneys were flushed, she was treated with steroids and was on chemotherapy six days after diagnosis.
She was given a lumber puncture and bone marrow tests.
This was followed by months of treatment as an outpatient at QMC. She spent nine months of 2010 in and out of hospital.
Monthly chemo, chemo injected into her spine every 12 weeks, and steroids for five days a month.
Because she had lost so much school time, Lou left KGGS without the GCSE’s she badly needed and in September 2011, started at Grantham College on the catering course and completed her Level 3.
Now she is taking an access course and science foundation planning to study dietetics at university.
In 2012 Lou she was given a clean bill a health, a signal for her to fight back against Leukaemia.
In 2010, as a 16-year-old, she had raised £2,300 for QMC’s E38 Ward, by organising a ball.
Three months after her treatment finished, she raised £360 in the Race for Life.
She made cookies for the children in QMC to decorate.
She did a 19-mile offroad bikathon for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research (LLR).
And she organised a fun day at Long Bennington playing field in Aiugust 2014, which raised more than £1,500 for LLR.
dunraffin says
Met this young lady at her fun day in August this year, with the Grantham Archery Club who put on a “Have a Go” at the venue. Congrats on raising so much money as it was a bit quite during the day with not many stalls and visitors.