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Cancer robbed north-east woman of having children when she was just 19

Liz Roberts who is taking part in the third Courage on the Catwalk event
Liz Roberts who is taking part in the third Courage on the Catwalk event

Elizabeth Roberts has had a clean bill of health since doctors gave her the all-clear from cancer eight years ago.

But the side effects of treatment left her with one unpleasant keepsake – the inability to have children of her own.

Just before turning 18, Elizabeth was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, which led her to suffer a premature menopause when she was only 19.

Liz on her 21st Birthday
Liz on her 21st Birthday

The Turriff woman was only three weeks into a nursing degree at Robert Gordon University in 2004 when she first became unwell and it took her until 2010 to finally graduate and secure a job as a full-time nurse.

Before the diagnosis, she had known something wasn’t right for a few months but never imagined her symptoms would lead to anything like cancer.

Now 28, she recalls: “I had lots of spells of light headedness and I thought I had the flu but it just wouldn’t go away.

“At the time I was struggling to get up the stairs to my flat and I only lived on the second floor.

“I also remember falling asleep in the bath and waking up and topping it up with hot water because I was so tired I hadn’t realised I’d fallen asleep.”

Although four cycles of chemotherapy treatment proved successful, when she returned to university exactly a year later the cancer had returned.

COURAGE-ON-THE-CATWALK-2

The doctors found leukaemia in her spinal fluid and in January 2006 she had a donor stem cell transplant which left her unable to conceive children naturally.

She has since found faith in the Daisy Network, a charity dedicated to supporting women who have suffered a premature menopause.

She added: “It was only after I had my transplant that it really sunk in and when I met boyfriends I never knew if it was something I should tell them.

“I only brought up the fertility questions once and looked into IVF with my boyfriend of seven years a while ago but decided it wasn’t for me.

“Someone told me about the Daisy Network and it had loads of information about fostering, adoption and childless living which has made feel a lot more positive about everything.”