Clint nearly died after 'man flu' turned out to be aggressive cancer

DAD TELLS HIS STORY AS PART OF LEUKAEMIA CAMPAIGN

- By EDE CHATTERTON

A DAD who thought he had “man flu” almost died after his cold-like symptoms turned out to be aggressive blood cancer.

Clint Nield, 46, put down his cough, cold and fatigue to being seasonal flu after he first fell poorly in October last year.

The dad-of-one, who works in retail at a toy store, thought it was “just that time of year” and brushed it off as “being a bit of man flu.”

But over the next two weeks his condition began to deteriorate and he was rushed to an emergency doctor by wife Joanne, 48.

He was then sent to A&E at Burton Hospital where tests determined that he had deadly myeloid leukaemia (AML).

Clint said “It started off as a bit of a cough and a cold in October last year and as I work in retail I put it down to the time of the year and bugs going around. But over the next couple of days it got worse and I began feeling a bit lightheaded. But I still put it down to a bit of man flu.

“You know what men can be like, exaggerating things a bit and trying to stay masculine and I just brushed it off as that really. I thought it’s just a bit of fatigue and fever and put it down to the time of the year as the weather changes.

“I thought I just needed a few days R and R and I'd be back to work but I just got worse to the point where I had no energy at all, I was out of it. It was the worst I had ever felt and I went to my GP who first thought it might be a chest infection so gave me some antibiotics.