'I went to the doctor for a blood test - hours later the police were at my door'

A man who headed to the doctor for was met with a police presence at his home just hours later.

Andrew Moyens was told his life was in danger by members of the force, who told him to pack a bag and later escorted him back to hospital. The 52-year-old had lived a healthy lifestyle, did not and was fit but a series of health problems had left him feeling shattered and wiped out over the period in 2022.

He said: "I was falling asleep between jobs and had a terrible chest infection that had me waking up from sleep unable to breathe. At times, I felt scared I might die, it was so difficult to catch my breath. It was becoming increasingly difficult to walk even 400 yards, without having to stop four or five times to get my breath back."

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A visit to the GP saw him put on antibiotics and other medications but did not fix the exhaustion. Andrew, who was self-employed in the motor industry inspecting cars and delivering vehicles felt he was unable to take time off in the lead-up to Christmas. The self-employed 52-year-old, from Birmingham, said: "I am normally quite an active guy - I play regularly, don’t smoke and consider myself reasonably fit. But I ended up having to take a week off work, during which time I slept for three days and barely got out of bed.

"Over Christmas, I was still not right. I hardly joined in with all the celebrations and barely drank. My wife couldn’t understand what was up with me. I was just so tired all the time." A return to the GP saw a separate doctor immediately carry out blood tests on Andrew, who returned home where he was so exhausted he could not even take down the Christmas tree.

"I remember being too exhausted to take down the Christmas tree and lay on the sofa watching my wife putting all the decorations away," he said. "We joke about it now, but at the time, she wondered why I was lying around watching her do all the hard work!" Their 13-year-old daughter was accompanied to a dance lesson by Andrew's wife as he felt too tired to take her.

Andrew revealed: "At about 9:20pm, there was a knock at the door. I assumed it was my daughter arriving back from dance. But when I went to the door, there were two police officers standing there. They explained that the doctor had been trying to reach me all day, but because I had not seen any of the texts and had not responded, they had been sent to do a drive past to check that I was okay. They told me that my blood tests that morning had revealed there was a danger to my life - I should pack an overnight bag and they would accompany me to the hospital straight away."

Accompanying officers to A&E, Andrew was told his white blood cells were "through the roof" and were "attacking each other". An immediate blood transfusion followed, and a bone marrow biopsy in the morning to address his fatigue, reported. Andrew said: "A day later, on Thursday 5th January, the doctor came to see me and told me I had AML (acute myeloid leukaemia).

"I really knew nothing about leukaemia at the time. My only awareness, being an Aston Villa fan, was that had it. Of course, it was a very frightening diagnosis. Being told you have cancer makes you fear the worst and all sorts of thoughts go through your head. The doctor offered to call my wife and explain everything to her, and it was hard to hear her crying over the phone."

Andrew was found to be in need of a bone marrow transplant, and thankfully both his brother and sister were a 100% match for the operation. His brother opted to be the donor for the operation, and to cut risks to his health, Andrew was only allowed to see his wife and did not see his daughter for a month.

He said: "I will be eternally grateful for all the medical care I received at every level, but I also couldn’t have got through this without the love and devotion of my wife and daughter, and the support and encouragement from my brother-in-law. They were my only link to the outside during my darkest days in hospital. Being surrounded by people that care really is vital to a positive mental attitude which definitely helped me in my fight against my diagnosis."

He added: "I have always been very positive and always knew that I was going to fight this and get through it for my family. I have been strong all along and mentally, I feel stronger now than ever. The whole experience has 100% changed me though. My outlook on life is very different these days. I am much calmer and will not allow myself to get stressed or angry. What’s the point when you can’t change what you can’t change?"