A mum-of-two is a step closer to recovering from a deadly form of blood cancer after returning to work from more than 18 months of sick leave.
Gilly Jenkins appealed through the Gazette to find a donor for a life-saving stem cell transplant after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in October 2010.
Doctors had told her that it was the only way she could survive after multiple bouts of chemotherapy failed to drive out the cancer.
Her transplant went ahead in March last year, and the 44-year-old, of Hunters Park, Berkhamsted, returned to her job as an account executive for global firm salesforce.com on Wednesday.
She was given a ‘sky high dose of steroids’ to get her blood count back to normal after the transplant, but is not on the drug any more.
But she said: “It was really good being back at work – really interesting. A lot had changed, but it was exhausting.”
Her children Piran, 11, and Safia, five, and husband Paul, 52, have supported her throughout her treatment.
She said: “I am getting there slowly this year. My kids are fed up with me saying I am tired, but other than that I am doing very well.”
She will have to be scanned for five years to make sure the cancer does not return.
But she said: “My life is getting back to normal.”