A Scots teen has told how her entire life changed "in the blink of an eye" after being diagnosed with leukaemia .

Ayley Crawford, 19, from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire, was diagnosed with the blood cancer on May 23, 2024.

The teen received the shocking diagnosis after suffering frequent colds, sinus infections she couldn’t shake off, tiredness and weight loss.

At some points, Ayley felt so weak she struggled to stand up.

Then, she began fainting, which happened for the first time in her practical nursing exam at Glasgow Caledonian University .

Ayley found it difficult to keep food and drink down.

The final straw was when a painful abscess developed under her arm.

Recalling her gruelling symptoms, Ayley said: “At that point I called a doctor.

But the appointment was a week away.

I couldn’t wait so I went to the NHS out of hours clinic and was given antibiotics which fortunately made the abscess go away.

But I kept the GP appointment as I wanted to ask about the fainting episode." Ayley's GP ran a blood test, which later confirmed she had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with the NPM1-FLT3 mutation At the time, Ayley admitted she thought the worst.

She said: “I fainted when I was told and I just thought straight away that I’m going to die.

I immediately had an image in my head of someone very poorly attached to tubes who I thought I would end up like.” Ayley was transferred to the Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow, where she underwent the first of four cycles of IV chemotherapy , followed each time by chemotherapy in tablet form.

She said: “I had a few episodes of nausea and lost some of my hair but I was still in pretty high spirits throughout my treatment .

I think I was still in denial.

It was a long time away from home stuck in the same room for six weeks at the beginning and then again for my last two cycles but I knew I had to get through it.” Ayley was told that she was in remission in November that year, however, a routine biopsy later found she had relapsed .

She was then told her next step would be a stem cell transplant.

She said: “I was so excited to grab normality again.

I’d gone back to my old restaurant job part time, went on several holidays and was hoping to go back to uni.

Just as everything started to return to normal, I had a routine bone marrow biopsy and they found I’d relapsed.

"I was just devastated that all that work felt like it was for nothing.

I remember saying to my auntie before the test ‘I feel great so I’m sure it will be fine’.

It was such a shock .” A match was found with a....