Consultant gynaecologist Ellissa Baskind, who lives in Leeds, decided to seek medical attention when her back pain started affecting her every day life
A gynaecologist left unable to dance at her work party due to back pain blamed it on bending over women for operations – until she discovered it was cancer.
Ellissa Baskind blamed her worsening back pain on the number of operations she was carrying out as a consultant gynaecologist. The 46-year-old decided to seek medical help when her pain began affecting her daily life, particularly at her work Christmas party five years ago when she was unable to participate fully in the event.
Despite a clear x-ray, the mum-of-two was asked to urgently come into the hospital when doctors discovered abnormalities in her blood tests. There Ellissa was given the shock diagnosis of leukaemia and told to undergo further tests.
Ellissa, who lives in Leeds, said she was in ‘disbelief’ over the results after experiencing no other symptoms than back pain between her shoulder blades. After an unsuccessful round of chemotherapy, Ellissa was given an urgent stem cell transplant before discovering a lump in her breast 18 months later.
Ellissa even began researching hospice care after discovering she had myeloid sarcoma, a rare type of cancerous tumour, but another stem cell transplant and further chemotherapy was finally successful.
Ellissa said: “At the time [I was diagnosed] I was doing a lot of operations and you do get yourself into a lot of awkward positions. It’s just the nature of the job. It’s not uncommon in my line of work to have back pain. I was getting pain in my shoulder blades which was keeping me up at night.
“Even as a doctor, you don’t think of the worst things. I genuinely thought it was related to my work. I never once thought it was something sinister. I wasn’t sure I would make it to the Christmas party because this pain was bothering me so much. It was at the forefront of my mind. The pain stopped me from dancing and being able to enjoy myself fully.”
After a colleague encouraged her to seek medical help, Ellissa underwent an x-ray and blood tests, but was shocked when doctors asked her to urgently come to hospital about her results.
Ellissa said: “I remember the conversation quite well. He told me it could be two types of leukaemia and talked about the different treatments for both. There was a lot of disbelief. I felt completely well, it was just the back pain. I felt very well and was working more than full time. All I was thinking was how long until I can go back to normal life and get back to work. It never crossed my mind that it would be anything more serious than chemotherapy. I think I was a bit naive. I stopped myself from thinking anything bad. I didn’t let it into the forefront of my mind.”
Ellissa later discovered she had acute myeloid leukaemia – a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells – and had to undergo two rounds of chemotherapy.
Ellissa said: “When I was in the hospital room on my own, the realisation started to hit that this was real and was actually happening to me. It was strange going from working in this hospital to becoming a patient. I was living in the hospital. There wasn’t a day that passed where a colleague didn’t come and see me. I was very lucky.”
Unfortunately, Ellissa was told her chemotherapy had failed and underwent a stem cell transplant during the pandemic. But 18 months later, Ellissa discovered a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with myeloid sarcoma.
Ellissa said: “Looking at the literature, there is no cure for myeloid sarcoma. I believed it was palliative. That night I was looking into hospice care and thought it was the end of the road. The doctors asked me how much fight I had left in me and I said I’m only interested in a cure. They said there is a chance of a cure but it’s very remote and you would need another stem cell transplant.”
Ellissa underwent a further stem cell transplant in 2022, which was successful, before completing two more rounds of chemotherapy in June.
Ellissa said: “I’m now in the best health and have hit five years now which is a real milestone. I’m very fortunate. The best advice I have to people going through cancer treatment is to take each day at a time. I feel so lucky to be alive. And it’s changed the way I approach patients having been one myself.
I look back and I felt very well other than that back pain. I could have so easily just gone on with my life and missed it. Please listen to your body and don’t ignore your symptoms; keep pursuing answers and persevere until you know what is going on.”
