A mum from Balloch has shared the shock of receiving a heartbreaking cancer diagnosis after mistaking symptoms for menopause.

In May 2022, Caroline Sweeney, 54, thought she was experiencing the start of the menopause, but what doctors found left her "in complete shock". It came after the childminder started to experience exhaustion as well as having sores in her mouth.

Telling her story, Caroline said: "I’d been a childminder for 15 years, walking 25,000 steps a day, and never had a sick day. But suddenly I was exhausted, I couldn’t walk uphill and had sores in my mouth.

“I decided to go to my GP who booked me for a blood test. Just seven hours later she rang and said I needed to go to Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria for a blood transfusion, I couldn’t believe it.”

Caroline wa

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