Dalton student diagnosed with cancer twice hopes to embark on leukaemia research degree

Nathan Hall, from Dalton, was just 15-years-old when he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

The University of York graduate went to the doctors feeling fatigued but never expected to be given the news that he had cancer.

“I had a blood test at the doctors and was sent to the hospital later that night,” he said.

"Then, within 48 hours of diagnosis, I was transported down to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. I never expected to be later diagnosed cancer.

“Of course my first thought was am I going to die? I wasn’t certain about what was going to happen as there is no guarantee things would work out.”

Luckily, Nathan’s cancer was detected early – and medics informed the teen that it was treatable.

He said: “Luckily they found it really early so it was an immature form of it.

“I was trying to stay positive through the whole thing. It was really hard on my family and friends - that’s what made it particularly difficult for me. The impact it had on my family was the hardest part especially the time they had to take off work. They lost a lot of time from their lives too.”

By mid-summer 2015, Nathan had battled through four rounds of intense chemotherapy before he was declared ‘in remission’ and allowed to return home.

A year later, however, Nathan began feeing unwell again and had to derail his family holiday to Florida after discovering his cancer had relapsed.

He returned to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where his team proposed that Nathan underwent a bone marrow transplant.

Following a stint in intensive care after a fungal infection, an allergic reaction to an antibiotic drug, and being tube-fed for six months, Nathan was finally ready for his transplant - which was a success.

Nathan Hall, from Dalton, was just 15-years-old when he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (Image: Newsquest)

A few months into recovery, Nathan was released from hospital and – following weekly then annual checks – was given the ‘all-clear’.

He said: “I’m just getting back into my normal life and moving forward.

“I didn’t have time to focus on anything else but this for two years straight so it’s nice to return to normal life.

“I’m six years in remission now. 2021 was five years since the transplant. It was great to reach that milestone.

“I do still get a bit of health anxiety that the cancer may return and can overthink about that but I feel really grateful it was caught early and I was given a really good outcome.

“That’s not always the case with everyone else.”

Despite his months of absence from school, Nathan was home-schooled throughout and enrolled at Barrow Sixth Form College to complete his GCSEs.

Now 23, Nathan has completed his degree in Biomedical Science at University of York and hopes to undertake a masters researching the origin of leukaemia from a single cell and how we can improve current treatments.

He said: “This experience has definitely made me feel more grateful of what I have and not take things for granted. I feel really grateful to be here and be given the chance to get treatment.

“It’s made me value everything more and inspired me to do something to help people who have gone through what I’ve gone through.

 “I want to help other people that have been through what I have and hopefully one day improve treatments.”

Nathan also works with charities such as Leukaemia Care and Anthony Nolan to give back to the causes who helped him throughout his teenage years.