A CASTLE DAWSON man who survived blood cancer twice has become one of the faces of a new awareness campaign.
Craig Mawhinney was unveiled as one of eight blood cancer survivors to front local charity Leukaemia and Lymphona NI’s campaign, Empty Chairs.
The campaign will also tell the stories of three people who didn’t survive the deadly disease.
Craig was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in March 2013 when he was just 25 years old.
The Air Conditioning Engineer knew something was wrong when he began to experience pains in his shoulder and an unusual weakness when he was at work on a normal Friday.
Recalling that day, 29 year old Craig said ‘everything happened so fast’.
“I went to work that day but I just wasn’t feeling myself. I was tired and I had a sore shoulder,” he told the County Derry Post.
“At 10 o’clock, I rang my mum and she called the GP. I also rang my partner and she suggested going to A&E to get checked out.
“I went to Antrim Hospital and they took some bloods but at 5.30pm that evening they came back and asked to do my bloods again. By 11.30pm that night, a doctor took me into a side room and explained what they had found and what they thought it was.”
Craig said while the news was devastating, he immediately adopted a positive outlook.
This story is from the 21 February 2017 edition of County Derry Post.
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This story is from the 21 February 2017 edition of County Derry Post.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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