Lauren Carr

Lauren was 17 when she was diagnosed with papillary cancer of the thyroid. After an operation and radioactive iodine treatment, she is hoping to attend Oxford Brookes University to study for a Primary Teaching Degree.

It all started for Lauren in June 2011, when she noticed an enlarged lymph node, an organ of the immune system, in the side of her neck:
“First of all, I am ironically an employee at Homebase! And so our chosen charity is Teenage Cancer Trust. My doctors initially gave me the misdiagnosis of a simple lymph nodula that had swelled up. They took blood tests but assured me the lumps were not cancerous. They then referred me to the Ear, Nose and Throat department (ENT) at my local hospital, where the wait was over 18 weeks for an appointment due to the fact that I was not seen as urgent.”

“By now they had me convinced that I did not have cancer.”

“Being the impatient and vain person that I am, I did not like the fact that I was walking around with a lump on my neck and resorted to wearing scarves or having my hair down. After going back to the doctors a couple more times and being sent away again and again, the lump was getting bigger and I now had a second one just below my ear. I was continually ringing the ENT department to see when my appointment would be but because of my doctor’s referral, I was not seen as urgent and I would probably get a call in December.”

By the end of October 2011 Lauren was very angry and so went back to the doctors to see a different GP:
“I told them how they had enlarged and I now had 2, and the ENT waiting list was long. This Doctor immediately put me on a 2 week referral to the ENT as she suspected I may be urgent. Over the two week wait I convinced myself I had throat cancer or thyroid cancer by using Google diagnosis, however my mother was adamant I was fine because she believed my first diagnosis.”

On 29th November 2011 Lauren was finally seen by the ENT:
“They took a biopsy, an ultrasound and stuck a camera up my nose. They diagnosed me with papillary cancer of the thyroid and I was then taken into a room with my Nan and a support worker. When my mum arrived the doctor re-diagnosed me to her and she was furious at the doctors.”

“I had known all along that my lumps were cancerous.”

After that things moved very quickly:
“The next day I had a CT scan to check for other lumps in my body, I also had a couple of blood tests and two days later I was meeting my surgeon and nurse specialist. At Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth there were no teenage wards so I chose to be on Paediatrics. A week after that I had my pre-op examination and was de-briefed about my surgery. The nurse I saw was for adults and so was very gruesome with the details!”

“My operation was on the 22nd of December, which would mean that I would be in hospital over Christmas.”

“I stayed in hospital from the 22nd to the 29th of December, and even then I struggled to walk properly and holding my head up was very hard, they let me go home on the 28th of December to see my family, but I only lasted a couple of hours. My stitch got pulled out on New Year’s Eve where I came across my best friend 'gas and air' again! I spent my 18th birthday at home with a stiff neck and didn’t get to go out until April.”

“My surgeon is very happy with the way everything has gone.”

In February Lauren had her radioactive iodine treatment:
“I struggled through 3 A2 exams and 3 university interviews in January. I managed to get 2 A's and a C and got into 2 out of 4 universities. I have also been using the Jimmyteens.tv website and found a girl with the same diagnosis as me and have been emailing her. The scar has now gone keloid, a tough heaped-up scar that rises quite abruptly above the rest of the skin, due to my age, but is under the watchful eye of my doctors. I am on 1mg of calcium each day, 175mg of thyroxine (which is quite high) and painkillers to stop the twitches in my muscles. I still have no feeling in my shoulder or neck and get very funny if people touch it but I have had so much given to me by charities, which has made up for the loss of my Christmas and 18th Birthday, I met Florence Welch and Caroline Flack!.”