Didcot Town manager's warning after mistaking rare blood cancer symptoms for cracked rib

  • ITV News Meridian's Jamie Green reports on the rare blood cancer diagnosis given to Didcot Town Boss Jamie Heapy

A football manager who was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer after mistaking his symptoms for a cracked rib is urging others to seek medical help if something is not right.

In 2021, Didcot Town boss Jamie Heapy found out he had mantle cell lymphoma which affects around 600 people a year in the UK.

Mr Heapy said: "To be honest I thought I'd cracked a rib or broke a rib or something because I might have caught it on the scaffold tube or knocked it against something and I went home to Lydia and said 'I just feel a bit.... something's not quite right'.

"I carried on working, went to work for the rest of the week and then on Friday I felt really bad."

After being diagnosed, he underwent months of gruelling treatment before being told he could leave hospital.

As soon as he felt better, he was back on the sideline, leading Didcot Town to promotion in his first full season back. He is now in remission.

Mr Heapy is now encouraging people to get any signs including lumps and bumps checked out.

Dallas Pounds, director of services at Lymphoma Action, said: "The symptoms can be wide ranging and can feel quite vague and we can put them down to other things that are happening in our life.

"Maybe we overdid it at the gym, maybe we're working a bit hard. But really listen to your body, make some notes and go and seek some medical support."

Signs and symptoms

According to Cancer Research UK, symptoms of mantle cell lymphoma include:

  • Painless swellings in the neck, armpit, groin

  • Heavy sweating at night

  • Temperatures that come and go with no obvious cause

  • Losing a lot of weight (more than a tenth of your total weight)

  • Unexplained itching

  • Mantle cell lymphoma can spread to the bowel and in rare cases to the stomach. If this happens, it can cause symptoms such as diarrhoea, tummy pain and sickness.

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