Fertility and cancer: Freezing eggs before chemotherapy

Being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma

My mum noticed that my neck was quite swollen in May 2022 in the run up to my GCSEs. I felt well in myself, and we thought it must just be swollen glands because of the stress of exams. 

We had a busy summer and didn’t really think too much about it. It was only when the weather turned a little cooler and I started wearing jumpers that we thought about the swelling again because the neckline of the jumpers didn’t quite sit right. 

My mum was at the doctors with one of my siblings, and on the off chance she asked if they had an appointment for me. They had a cancellation the next day, so they were able to fit me in. The GP took one look at my neck and said that she didn’t think it was my glands and that she wasn’t happy with the look of it. 

She referred me to a scan and there was a mix up because the place they referred me to only did pregnancy scans. I had another appointment but that was delayed and then cancelled. The GP had kept in touch with us and was concerned that we weren’t being seen quickly enough. We looked at going private, but in the end got a scan on the NHS.  

It took us around a month to get to that point and by then I couldn’t see my collarbone on one side. In the meantime, I’d also been sent to the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) unit at a private clinic. They said that it might be my thyroid or tuberculosis. They did mention lymphoma in passing, but they said it was very unlikely. 

I had a scan in November (2022) and then a biopsy the next day. I was asked to go to the ENT clinic in December for the results. My mum had an inkling it was bad news as a nurse came into the room too. When they told us it was Hodgkin lymphoma we were in shock. Even after the biopsy, I wasn’t worried that I had cancer. I’d been walking around with a big plaster on my neck from the biopsy and I thought it was cool. 

Because it was an ENT doctor, they didn’t normally tell people they have cancer, but they were lovely, and they’d done their research. They told me very quickly that it was treatable, so that did help.  

Fertility treatment and chemo delay

I was booked into a CT and PET scan to see what stage the cancer was at. In the meantime, I had an appointment with a fertility specialist and talked about having my eggs preserved. I’d always wanted children, but having my eggs preserved meant that I would be delaying my chemotherapy for a month. It was a big decision to make at 16, and it was my decision ultimately, but I decided to preserve my fertility. 

When the results of the CT and PET scan came back, we were told my cancer was at stage 4, which was more bad news. They still said I had time to preserve my fertility and I was very determined to have children, so I decided to press ahead with fertility treatment.  

I started the fertility treatment in December and was having to inject myself with the medicines multiple times a day. We had to set reminders. We also had a lot of early appointments at the fertility clinic, so I got to stay in hotels with my mum. We made the most of it and went for some meals in London.  .  

My mum got sad. We were just in a weird waiting period before the chemo started, so it was hanging over us a bit. 

Teenage Cancer Trust unit 

I transferred to the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust for my chemo in January (2023). As I was about to start the chemo, I said: ‘What if I just say no and don’t have the treatment?’ They said I’d probably have around three to six months to live. It was scary to think that I’d taken a month out to have fertility treatment, but I’m glad that I did. 

The first day of chemo was really long and I was there for around 14 hours as I had to have my blood taken too. Lara, Teenage Cancer Trust’s Youth Support Coordinator, came to introduce herself to me. She told me about Teenage Cancer Trust and how she could help me. She’s lovely and easy to talk to. She’s also upbeat which helps to lift the mood on the unit. 

I’ve been in both children’s wards and adults’ wards and the Teenage Cancer Trust unit was much better. The children’s ward was a hard place to be as it was sad to see lots of crying babies, and in the adult ward everyone was over 60 and never talked. In the Teenage Cancer Trust unit everyone was more open to chatting.

There seemed to be a lot of lymphoma patients in on the day that I was in, so we’d talk about our treatment and how it was going. Before cancer, I wouldn’t have just approached people I didn’t know to chat. But we spend a lot of time in hospital, and we have a common ground to start from.  

Hair loss 

I managed to hold on to my hair for ages before it came out, but it started to come out after two months. I kept saying: ‘Mum, tell me honestly do I need to shave it off?’ She would say: ‘Yes’ but each time I’d say: ‘I’ll just leave it a bit longer’. I wasn’t ready to let it go. We’d had some good news from the hospital, and we’d gone out to celebrate and we took lots of pictures. When I looked at the pictures, I was shocked to see I looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. My hair was so patchy.  

I had it shaved and for a while I felt like an egg head. It felt strange, like it wasn’t me. I didn’t get strange looks when it was a shaved as I think people associate that with people being poorly, but I used to get some funny looks from people when it was just growing back through and was really short. I think people make some assumptions about girls with hair that length.  

When it started growing back it kept growing back patchy, so mum kept shaving it. I wanted to hang onto what I had, but it has grown through more even this way. It’s still quite short but people do compliment it. 

Finishing treatment and remission

When I finished my treatment in May and I had my final PET scan, my tonsils and other areas lit up, but they hadn’t before, so it didn’t seem quite right. I had to wait four weeks for another scan and that one was ok. They think I’d just had an infection, but it was a nervous wait. I went into remission in June 2023. 

I’ve just restarted Year 12 in school. It’s hard to restart a school year, especially in a big school where you don’t know many people from the year below. But it also gives an opportunity for a fresh start. I know what I want from life more now, and I’m going to make sure I get it.