'I couldn't lift head off pillow - they said I wouldn't make Christmas'

A mother-of-four who was told she "wouldn't make it to Christmas" after being diagnosed with leukaemia has performed a cartwheel every single day to mark reaching remission. Urban designer Lucy Musgrave, 58, from London, received her acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) diagnosis - a "very aggressive" form of blood cancer - in September 2021 following bouts of severe fatigue.

Her consultant warned that without immediate treatment, she wouldn't survive until Christmas that year. Lucy, who founded research and urban design practice Publica, received blood transfusions and began intensive chemotherapy within days, enduring six months of hospital stays throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following her inpatient care in March 2022, she commenced maintenance chemotherapy and in November that year, friends whisked her away to Mexico, where she performed 12 cartwheels on the beach - one to "mark every month of survival".

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From January 2023, Lucy has executed a cartwheel daily - including at the Old Bailey, outside St Paul's Cathedral and on the red carpet at the Baftas - and has partnered with Leukaemia UK for the charity's new Cartwheel for a Cure campaign to generate funds for vital research.

Lucy, who is now dubbed the "Cartwheel Queen", said: "I dived straight into the sea and when I came out, I did 12 cartwheels on the beach (in Mexico) – one for each month of that terrible year. That moment of joy sparked something.

"The survival rates for AML are absolutely devastating, which is why I'm doing all the fundraising. I don't want anyone, any family, to ever, ever, ever have to go through what we went through."

According to Leukaemia UK, nearly 3,100 people receive an AML diagnosis in the UK each year, with almost 80% failing to survive beyond five years. Signs include tiredness, pallid skin, regular infections, breathlessness, unexplained weight loss, easy bruising and bleeding, plus bone pain.

Lucy revealed she had experienced "mild shingles" – a viral infection – during spring 2021 and felt completely drained.

"We went on holiday down to Cornwall, and I literally couldn't lift my head off the pillow – it was terrible," she recalled.

Lucy, who lives with husband Zad, the founder of Atomized Studios, arranged a video consultation with her GP, who suggested she had "picked up another virus".

But as her exhaustion continued, she sensed something wasn't right and booked a private appointment with a different GP.

"I went to see this GP, he took a blood test, and he phoned me the next day and said, 'Could you go to A&E now, please?'," Lucy said.

"I just thought, 'Well, thank goodness someone's taking this seriously. I haven't got post-viral fatigue'."

Lucy recounted her experience at University College London Hospital (UCLH), where she was so exhausted that she could barely sit upright and had to lie down on an empty hospital bed. After a nurse performed a bone marrow biopsy, she was moved to another ward and informed that her husband had been called to the hospital.

"I thought, 'OK, here we go. I'm going to be told I've got cancer and, well, that's OK. I've had this amazing life and I've been so lucky'," Lucy said. "What's the worst thing they could tell me? They're going to tell me I've got six months to live."

On September 9, 2021, a consultant broke the news to Lucy that she had AML and, without treatment, she might only have three months left.

She said: "The consultant said it's curable and it was his job to ensure I made it to my 80s or 90s, but if we didn't start treatment straight away, I wouldn't make it to Christmas. I never thought it would be less than six months... so I said, 'Bring it on. When can we start?' But then I looked to my side and saw my husband looking completely broken. It hit me then that this wasn't just about me, but this was going to be incredibly difficult and traumatic for my family too, particularly my daughters."

Surrounded by her "incredible" team of medics and nursing staff, Lucy felt reassured about her treatment programme and began chemotherapy within days. Despite enduring side effects including mouth ulcers, sickness and losing her hair, Lucy said concentrating on "positive energy" and backing from family helped her through the moments when she felt "broken".

"People say this language of 'fighting cancer', but with blood cancer, it's literally in every cell of your body. You can't fight your own body," she said.

"I just knew I had this minuscule piece of energy.... and, in my mind, I just kept thinking, if I can hang on to that positive energy and if I can grow it, I can get through this."

Lucy finished her hospital treatment in March 2022 and began a year of ongoing chemotherapy and is now in remission. The "surreal" experience of her shocking diagnosis and recovery prompted Lucy to launch a fundraising campaign – and it all began with 12 cartwheels on holiday in Mexico.

"I'm here because of medical science and the NHS and a lot of love," she said. "Doctors said at the time that, if I had been diagnosed five years earlier, they wouldn't have been able to treat me. That's why I'm cartwheeling – it's this tiny movement for joy, this tiny bit of positive energy."

Since January 2023, Lucy has been performing a cartwheel every day, no matter where she is, and filming it to celebrate her remission. She's managed to raise more than £28,500 for the Haematology Cancer Care (HCC) unit at UCLH.

Her cartwheels have taken place at iconic locations such as the Old Bailey, Tube stations, and even outside St Paul's Cathedral. She's also hoping to perform her acrobatic feat with the Lionesses and at various institutions like ballet schools, sports clubs, and primary schools across the country.

After completing her 1,000th cartwheel in June, Lucy kicked off a new national campaign with Leukaemia UK called Cartwheel for a Cure. She hopes this "movement for joy" will help raise as much money as possible.

"I want to spend the next 12 months limbering up the nation and practising our cartwheels, and then on June 30 forevermore, it will be national cartwheeling day and we're going to raise a lot more money on that day," she declared. Lucy is urging people not to hesitate in getting any unusual symptoms checked out and to never be afraid to "ask for help".

"The sad thing is that every family in the UK is going to be touched in some shape or form by cancer," she said. "I've learned to squeeze every inch and ounce out of life because of this life-threatening disease and now I'm fearless. I'm hoping I'll be cartwheeling into my 80s."

For more information, visit: leukaemiauk.org.uk/cartwheel-for-a-cure, or search @lucy. musgrave or @cartwheelforacure on Instagram.

To donate, visit: justgiving.com/campaign/cartwheel-for-a-cure.