A woman living with blood cancer said a free counselling service helped her and her family cope by giving them the chance to bring "dark feelings out into the light".

Emma Tom, from Chalford in Gloucestershire, began sessions with Linc, a blood cancer charity based in Gloucester, after her diagnosis three years ago.

The charity was previously based in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital, but has now expanded its services to the community with the guarantee of no wait times, providing it receives enough support.

Tom said: "I think the only way for me to be able to work through the fear of the situation was just to bring those dark feelings out into the light."

She received her unexpected diagnosis after feeling very tired, breathless and achy over a prolonged period.

Although several of her blood tests came back as normal, the results of one at the end of the summer holidays in 2023 led to her GP ordering a blood transfusion and bone marrow biopsy.

Tom was admitted to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for the procedures, where she was then diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer which needed treatment straight away.

"The first few days in hospital were just a blur and I didn't know how I was going to get my head around it," she said.

The mother-of-two added: "We all think that we have an idea how the next sort of few months or years will go ahead of us… when you have small children it is the worst thing to possibly be told that you might not be there to see them grow up."

Tom was referred to Linc through the hospital and said the counselling did not "try to fix the situation", but helped to give her "space to sit with it".

"I'm very lucky I have a fantastic husband and friends who are all very able to talk to me about these things, but sometimes that's not what you need," she added.

Emma Neal, chief executive officer of Linc, said: "Although the support and the clinical pathway at the hospital was fantastic, the support services that we as a charity offer don't necessarily need to be delivered in a clinical space.

"For some patients it was really traumatic to have to keep coming back into the hospital."

The blood cancer charity offers counselling sessions online or in-person at The Forum in Gloucester to patients at any stage in their diagnosis, as well as their loved ones.

Anybody in need of its services can sign up online or can be referred through a clinical setting.

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