I was told I had cancer while on shift in A&E after suspecting my symptoms were glandular fever, says 28-year-old doctor
A YOUNG doctor was told she has cancer while on shift in A&E just one hour after having a blood test for suspected glandular fever in the same hospital.
Alice Bolton, 28, who divides her time between Surrey and London, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) – an aggressive blood cancer, in May 2024 while working abroad in A&E in Australia.
Days beforehand, she had been running up to 20km in preparation for a half marathon.
But after noticing swollen lymph nodes in her neck and bruising on her legs, she suspected glandular fever and decided to have a blood test.
Just one hour later, she went from working in the doctors’ area of the hospital to being a patient in a bed.
Alice underwent chemotherapy and reached remission by October 2024, but she soon relapsed in March 2025 and was told she would need to have a stem cell transplant as “this will be the cure”.
She and her partner Hayden had planned to get married in June and thought they would “have to cancel” the wedding, but instead they managed to organise a ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall within a matter of days, which was “so special”.
With both her sisters, Emma, 31, who works at a biotech company, and Kate, 29, a solicitor, being perfect matches for the transplant, Alice is hoping to soon “draw a line under” her cancer journey.
“I’m very lucky that I have two sisters who are a match, and this will be the cure,” Alice said.
“But it makes you realise that even if you are a healthcare professional, these things can still happen.”
After completing her medical foundation training in the UK, Alice travelled to Melbourne, Australia, in October 2023 to work as an emergency care doctor alongside her now-husband, Hayden, who is also a doctor.
During this time, Alice was training for the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon, running up to 20km, but just days before the race in May 2024, she was “struggling to run about 5km”.
“I noticed that I had swollen lymph nodes in my neck and there was some bruising on my lower legs, and I’m not one to bruise easily, so I thought I should probably get a blood test,” Alice explained.
Alice suspected her symptoms were due to glandular fever, a viral infection, but this was not the case.
“I was actually on shift, and they literally called me about an hour after I’d had the blood test, saying, ‘You need to go to A&E straightaway’,” Alice said.
“I said, ‘Oh, that’s weird, because I’m actually here anyway, I work in A&E’.”
Still believing she had glandular fever, Alice thought the consultant would advise her to go home to avoid “spreading this virus around the department”.
Instead, she was told she has leukaemia and she needed to start treatment immediately.
I was shocked, but the thing I was most concerned about was having to phone home and tell my sisters and my parents because I think that makes it more real
Alice Bolton
“I was shocked, but the thing I was most concerned about was having to phone home and tell my sisters and my parents because I think that makes it more real,” she said.
Her sister Emma received the news while on an expedition and said: “You just never expect it from someone so young and healthy, especially because she was talking about all her running.”
Kate added: “Being so far away from her was stressful and shocking, but we all rallied together as a family.”
On May 16 2024, Alice was officially diagnosed with AML, which, according to Leukaemia UK, has a five-year survival rate of 22 per cent.
Alice’s parents and her sisters flew out to Australia and stayed with her while she underwent intensive chemotherapy, which caused side effects of hair loss, extreme fatigue and nausea.
Witnessing Alice’s “incredible” strength, Emma said: “It’s one of the hardest things you can go through, and she was seeing the light in every situation, which, as siblings, makes you feel extremely proud.”
After completing her first round of chemotherapy, Alice was strong enough to return to the UK in June 2024 and was surprised by friends and family with a “Love Actually airport moment”.
She continued chemotherapy in London and, by October 2024, she was in full remission, which she described as a “complete relief”.
Alice then planned to run the upcoming TCS London Marathon with her sisters, but a routine bone marrow test in March 2025 revealed she had relapsed, which Kate described as “cruel”.
She was then told she would need a stem cell transplant as part of her treatment and, incredibly, Emma and Kate both turned out to be perfect matches.
According to the charity Anthony Nolan, there is only a 6 per cent chance that both siblings are a full match, making this a rare occurrence.
“We have this deep sister bond and when they said, ‘You three are all a match’, it was really magical,” Kate said.
After relapsing, Alice realised she and Hayden would have to cancel or postpone their upcoming wedding in June this year.
So they decided to “seize back some control” and arrange a ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London on March 15, with more than 70 loved ones attending, and Alice described the wedding as “amazing”.
Hayden added: “On the day, and even the day before, the fact that Alice had relapsed didn’t come into my head once, I was just super excited to marry the love of my life.”
‘Cancer isn’t a death sentence’
Alice is currently recovering from her latest round of chemotherapy and, if the treatment is successful, the stem cell transplant will take place in May, with Kate revealed as the chosen donor with a cake.
Emma and Kate are now preparing to run the TCS London Marathon to raise funds for Leukaemia UK, with Alice hopefully cheering from the sidelines and holding a sign that reads: “Run my stem cells, run!”
Although she is no longer able to run the marathon with her sisters, she said seeing them cross the finish line on April 27 will be “super emotional”.
Alice wants to give hope to others and said she and her sisters often recite Harry Potter’s Dumbledore quote: “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.
“Having all of your friends and family around you and knowing that, especially now with medical research, things are constantly changing, (cancer) isn’t a death sentence.
“I think you have to remain positive and things will work out.”
To find out more or donate, visit Alice’s fundraising page here: justgiving.com/page/the-bolton-girls
What is Acute Myeloid Leukaemia?
ACUTE myeloid leukaemia is a type of blood cancer that affects the immune system's white blood cells.
The causes of the disease are not well understood and it usually cannot be prevented. Previous chemotherapy, exposure to radiation or smoking could raise the risk.
It is a rare type of cancer and affects around 3,100 people each year in the UK, and 2,700 people die from it annually.
AML is an aggressive form of cancer and often needs urgent treatment with chemotherapy and possibly a bone marrow transplant.
On average only about a third of patients survive for one year or more after being diagnosed.
Symptoms of the disease include:
- Paleness
- Concerning tiredness or weakness
- Often feeling breathless for no reason
- Getting regular infections
- Unexplained weight loss
- Unexplained bleeding and/or bruising
Source: NHS