Pink slip of paper recording the diagnosis of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) given to Doreen Eggleton in 1998.

Pink slip of paper recording the diagnosis of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) written down and given to Doreen Eggleton by her consultant on 18th December 1998, when Doreen was first informed about her disease, donated in 2023.

Receiving a diagnosis of a serious condition such as cancer can be a lot for an individual to take on board during a medical consultation. This pink slip of paper records the moment that Doreen Eggleton learned of her diagnosis of a blood cancer called Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML). Having never previously heard of the condition, and trying to take on board the name of the condition whilst managing the emotion of the diagnosis, Doreen asked the consultant to write the name of the disease down on this paper and the details of the medical support team she should follow up with. The slip also records the name of the drug Filgrastim, that the consultant recommended Doreen to take. At the time there were few treatment options for this serious disease. Doreen went on to become one of the patients participating in the first UK clinical trial of the targeted therapy Glivec (imatinib), a drug that was shown to improve the survival of patients with CML like Doreen.