Agent turns her hospital bed into pop-up shop during cancer treatment

A self-employed homeworker continued to book holidays from her hospital bed, including for the nurses treating her, after a sudden cancer diagnosis.

Holiday Village personal travel consultant Denise Armour, based in Fife, Scotland, found out she had non-Hodgkin lymphoma on November 20, 2023 – the day of her 13th wedding anniversary.

At the time she put the symptoms, including sweating and difficulty breathing, down to the menopause or a new strain of Covid.

But after feeling particularly poorly one day, she was told to go straight to A&E. A chest X-ray, CT scan and biopsy confirmed the cancer diagnosis. 

“The day I went into hospital, my husband and I were due to go to Malmaison hotel in Dundee to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Instead I was in ‘Hotel Victoria’ – Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. I won’t forget that in a hurry,” she said. 

Armour was put on a six-month course of chemotherapy with seven-day hospital stays every couple of weeks from December 2023. 

“When you’ve got your own business, you start wondering what to do. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid,” said Armour, who took her laptop into hospital after the first chemo cycle.

She recalled: “I’d just done quotes for an Australia cruise. Gold Medal was brilliant. We sorted it over email and I phoned them from hospital with the customers’ details.”

Armour was soon running a ‘pop‑up shop’ from her bed as word got out she was an agent.

“Nurses kept asking about prices and I picked up a few bookings,” she said. “Work kept my mind off my treatment. Some days I’d do less but I was still in Holiday Village’s top-seller list for the period I was in hospital.” 

She updated Facebook with daily reports, including humorous posts such as “I’m off for a holiday excursion to ultrasound” or “cocktail party tonight” referring to her medication, while the Holiday Village team were in daily contact.

Armour said: “Your life is turned upside down. I got through it by making jokes.”

During her treatment, the family suffered another blow when Armour’s husband Eddie was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. His surgery in June last year came the same month Armour was told she was in remission.