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5 August 2026
For two years Jennifer Furno was treated for vasculitis – but she knew something was badly wrong. At The London Clinic she was finally diagnosed with a rare, aggressive lymphoma.
At 36, I was fit and healthy – until unexplained symptoms began to take hold.
I was getting swelling in my legs and I couldn’t walk. I got this rash all over my body. It was very unusual.
But because I had just had my COVID vaccine, I was told it was an immune reaction which would calm down. This went on for about six months.
I was told I had an autoimmune condition called vasculitis and I was given lots of different treatments within the NHS. I ended up thinking I had this disease for two years.
When you’re young and you’re healthy looking, you never think you might have cancer. What started as a rash on my wrist quickly escalated into something far more serious. I got increasingly unwell. I was battling extreme fatigue, night sweats, swelling and joint pain. Eventually, I lost the ability to walk.
Yet despite repeated hospital visits during 2021–22, I was reassured it was nothing more than an autoimmune condition.
For nearly two years, I was treated for vasculitis. I was given lots of different treatments within the NHS like immune suppressants and immunotherapy. And it just got worse and worse to the point where I couldn’t even walk. I was really terrified.
I knew something wasn't right. I felt like my body was shutting down. So I decided to use my employer medical insurance cover to seek another opinion.Jennifer Furno, patient
I went to The London Clinic in 2023 to see a dermatologist and I had a biopsy done. They took a good wedge of skin, and then it went to pathology there, and they immediately said it had signs of a rare and aggressive cancer, a T-cell lymphoma, which mainly affects the skin. They were able to identify that – you’ve got an amazing pathologist at The London Clinic, called Dr Eduardo Calonje.
I think you know yourself when there’s something wrong with your own body. It’s like you have this gut feeling. I’ve never had cancer, so I didn’t know what that was like, but I felt like I was dying. I had this feeling of getting really, really bad and I need to do something.
So that’s when I found Professor Gribben. I’d researched that he was the top, top person in the world in the area of haematology. I went to see him in October 2023. Professor Gribben recognised that I was extremely sick and that I needed a stem cell transplant. He also recognised the subtype of cancer that I had – something extremely aggressive called peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), a group of fast-growing non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
From the moment I arrived, I knew I was in the right place. I spent about three months in the hospital, and it became my second home. I got to know all the nurses – they were like family.
Because of the late diagnosis, it wasn’t possible to save my fertility. I just had to go into it. And it was really difficult, really, really difficult.
But I knew that if there was anyone in the world that was going to save me, it would be Professor Gribben – who literally held my hand through the whole thing.Jennifer Furno, patient
In March 2024 I had chemotherapy and I went into remission. The rashes started going away. I started being able to walk and it was like magic – like he picked the right treatment at the right time. But I also needed a stem cell transplant. My brother sadly wasn’t a match, so Professor Gribben’s team identified a match donor for me with the Stem Cell Transplant Registry. In June that year I was admitted for stem cell treatment over a three-month stay at The London Clinic.
I was aware that there were some really hard discussions to be had. I had to make peace with what was going to happen. I knew that there was a possibility I might not come out alive. Professor Gribben said to me, there’s up to a 40% chance of it not working. You might have to have a second transplant plus a 20% chance of death, and the disease might still come back – but at least this way there was a chance of cure.
I remember that they spent a long time on the Anthony Nolan database and I was really lucky that they found somebody overseas who was a full identical match.
But it was tough at times. I connected with many other patients going through transplant at The London Clinic and we called ourselves “The Gribbens”. We supported each other and kept each other going. Some of those patients sadly didn’t make it, which profoundly affected both myself and Professor Gribben.
There was even a moment where I got sepsis during the transplant when Professor Gribben cancelled his trip to California. It didn’t matter if he was working or off, he was there for me. The dedication that he gave me was just incredible. I call him God-given now, because to me he’s like this God-like figure that saved my life.
I spent a lot of time researching my illness and worked with Professor Gribben on my treatment plan.
Professor Gribben said, “Jennifer had a very unusual type of lymphoma – even when the lymphoma was diagnosed, the subtype was difficult to define. There is a form of T-cell lymphoma that can affect the skin called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. This can be a very slow-growing tumour that can be managed with gentle treatment, but here at The London Clinic we were able to identify that Jennifer had an aggressive type called peripheral T-cell lymphoma that in her case was also invading the skin and causing a vasculitis-type reaction. This diagnosis made Jennifer a candidate for a stem cell transplant.”
He added, “Jennifer has always been her own strongest advocate. Whereas all treatments must be tried and tested, it is a strength of The London Clinic that we can adapt and personalise plans based on patients’ wishes and special requirements, and it was great that we were able to do this so often for Jennifer.”
After I had the transplant that summer, I wrote my stem cell donor a letter, thanking him for donating his stem cells and telling him a little bit about myself. There’s a rule in Belgium, where he lives, where you have to stay anonymous regardless. You’re not ever allowed to know each other, ever. But you can write anonymous letters to each other. He wrote me this really beautiful letter to tell me that he signed up to the register because his grandfather passed with leukaemia. He told me that he was a bee farmer and that he had been on the register for a decade and never had a match. And then he got called and he felt like it was fate. The letter included a line, made famous by the film Schindler’s List: “Whoever saves one life, saves the world.” I reflect on this and think of him and Professor Gribben when I read it.
I’m approaching two years now, cancer free. And it’s just incredible. I’ve just come back to life. I’ve been given my life back – a life I didn’t think I’d have anymore. And it’s just amazing.
Professor Gribben added, “Jennifer is making excellent progress, her disease remains in remission and she is doing well. The whole team here are delighted to see her put her disease behind her and get on with her life, which is what we all hope for our patients.”
