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Woman diagnosed with blood cancer after noticing bruising on honeymoon
A Leicestershire woman, Rosie Meiklejohn-Cribdon, 29, was diagnosed with essential thrombocythaemia, a rare blood cancer, after noticing unusual bruising and fatigue during her honeymoon in May 2025. Initially told she had around 20 years to live and would not be able to have children, a second opinion offered a more hopeful outlook: while incurable, she could live a long and happy life. Rosie is now sharing her story to support Blood Cancer UK's 'Here for This' campaign.
By Tertius News AI Desk2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articlesVersion 1Coverage Published
distinct = voices after wire copies and reprints of the same article collapse; mastheads = publisher names; articles = URLs
Honeymoon Bruises Lead to Cancer Diagnosis
A Leicestershire woman has spoken of her shock after unexplained bruising noticed during her honeymoon led to a blood cancer diagnosis.
Rosie Meiklejohn-Cribdon, 29, was on a flight to Italy for her honeymoon in May 2025 when she first noticed her legs feeling "a bit weird [and] tingly". Over the following weeks, large bruises appeared across her legs and body without any known injury. She described feeling as though she had been "hit by a steamroller" and spent much of the three-week trip resting in her hotel room due to exhaustion.
The Diagnosis
After returning home to Leicestershire, Rosie had a blood test. In August 2025, she was diagnosed with essential thrombocythaemia (ET) – a rare type of blood cancer affecting the bone marrow. During an appointment with a hospital consultant, she was told her life expectancy was around 20 years and that she would never be able to have children.
The news was "extremely shocking" to Rosie and her husband Nathan, who encouraged her to seek a second opinion. After seeing a private doctor at Spire Leicester Hospital, she was told that while her cancer was incurable, there was every chance she could live a long and happy life.
Rosie described the second appointment, which took place on 30 August 2025, as having "completely changed our trajectory". She recalled the doctor saying: "You're not going to die tomorrow. It isn't going to kill you. Yes, you're going to die with it, but that could be in 80 years."
The blood test revealed a mutation of the JAK2 gene, which causes blood cells to multiply out of control. Rosie takes low-dose blood thinners to help reduce bruising, has given up alcohol, and now pays more attention to her diet and exercise.
Living with the Condition
Rosie said the revised prognosis felt like "the weight had been lifted" from both her and Nathan's shoulders. She admitted: "I really thought I was going to be dead by the time I was 50, having not really experienced much, so I now take every day as a bit more of a blessing."
A year after her diagnosis, Rosie said: "It feels like it has been the longest, but also the shortest year ever." She added: "It has made me see life differently – grab every moment, don't sweat the small stuff and make an impact in the world."
Rosie, who married Nathan in June 2024 after six years together, is sharing her story to support Blood Cancer UK's "Here for This" campaign for Blood Cancer Awareness Month this September.
About Essential Thrombocythaemia
Essential thrombocythaemia is a rare blood cancer that develops slowly and often shows no symptoms at first, meaning many people are diagnosed during blood tests for other reasons, according to Cancer Research UK. As it progresses, symptoms can include tiredness, headaches, burning and tingling in hands and feet, and easy bruising.
Blood cancer ranks as the fifth most prevalent cancer in the UK and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Blood Cancer UK notes that symptoms and progression vary significantly from patient to patient.
How each outlet told it
A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.
Framing: First-person account of symptoms leading to diagnosis, with emphasis on the shock of having incurable cancer discovered during a honeymoon — sympathetic and inspirational, focusing on resilience and gratitude despite serious illness
Facts Included:
Rosie Meiklejohn-Cribdon, 29, from Leicestershire was diagnosed with blood cancer after noticing unexplained bruising and exhaustion during her honeymoon
She was aboard a flight to Italy for her honeymoon in May 2025 when she first noticed her legs feeling 'a bit weird, tingly', followed by large bruises appearing across them
By August 2025, Rosie received a diagnosis of essential thrombocythaemia
She was told her life expectancy was approximately 20 years, that she would be unable to have children
On 30 August 2025, Rosie attended her second appointment, which she said 'completely changed our trajectory'
She married her husband Nathan in June 2024 after six years together
Framing: Highlights the initial symptom (random bruises) noticed on a honeymoon, suggesting a personal, symptom-focused story. — sympathetic and hopeful
Facts Included:
Rosie Meiklejohn-Cribdon, 29, noticed unusual bruising on her legs on her honeymoon in Italy in May 2025.
She was diagnosed with essential thrombocythaemia, a type of blood cancer, in August.
A hospital consultant told her her life expectancy was around 20 years and that she would never be able to have children.
After a second opinion from a private doctor, she was told her cancer was incurable but she could live a long and happy life.
The blood test revealed a mutation of the JAK2 gene.
She is sharing her story to support Blood Cancer UK's 'Here for This' campaign for Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the mastheads we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimRosie Meiklejohn-Cribdon, 29, from Leicestershire, was diagnosed with blood cancer after noticing unexplained bruising and exhaustion during her honeymoon.
ClaimRosie returned home to Leicestershire and had a blood test, which led to a diagnosis of essential thrombocythaemia, a type of blood cancer, in August 2025.
ClaimAfter seeing a private doctor at Spire Leicester Hospital, Rosie was told that her cancer was incurable but that she could live a long and happy life.
ClaimThe private doctor told Rosie: 'You're not going to die tomorrow. It isn't going to kill you. Yes, you're going to die with it, but that could be in 80 years.'
ClaimRosie was told that her life expectancy was approximately 20 years and that she would be unable to have children, according to the Leicester Mercury article.
ClaimThe Sun article states that Rosie's life expectancy was around 20 years, while the Leicester Mercury states approximately 20 years, which are consistent.
ClaimThe Sun article states that Rosie was on a flight to Italy for her honeymoon in May 2025, while the Leicester Mercury specifies the flight was on 5 May.