I suffered with symptoms for a year before being diagnosed

Being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma 

I had a lump in my groin for a year before I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. When a lump first appeared in my groin overnight in August 2021, I wasn’t too concerned. I had been to yoga the day before and I thought that I had overworked myself and it was a hernia. I left it to see if it went away by itself. 

It slowly started hurting and the pain spread from my groin to my knee and down to my toes. It was a bit strange, but I tried to hide it. I was in my final year of a Film Making course at university and I’d been running around a lot trying to find locations, so I put it down to that. It was only when it got to the point where I found it painful to walk that I went to the doctors.

I was sent for a biopsy in March 2022, and I didn’t hear the results, so I assumed that it was ok. The pain went away across the summer because I was resting more, but I just had a feeling that I needed to go back to the doctors, so I went in August 2022, almost a year after my first visit to the surgery. They reviewed my biopsy again and I was told that I had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and because of the severity of the pain I wasn’t surprised. 

My mum, dad and brother tried to stay calm and not show emotion, but I was aware they were upset. 

I was told that I was at stage 1A, and it was slow growing.

Fertility treatment 

I decided to take the time to think about whether I wanted to preserve my fertility and how, and about what type of treatment I wanted to go for. I was put in touch with Claire, Teenage Cancer Trust’s Teenage and Young Adult Clinical Nurse Specialist in Bristol, who referred me for fertility treatment. I did a lot of research on the pros and cons of each type of egg preservation and decided to go for cryopreservation, where the unfertilised eggs are harvested from the ovaries then frozen for future use. 

Proton Beam Therapy

I decided to have Proton Beam Therapy rather than radiotherapy as radiotherapy causes more damage to the surrounding areas. I was transferred to UCLH, but Claire oversaw my care from Bristol.

I had 12 sessions of Proton Beam Therapy in total and stayed in London during that time. It was a bit nerve-wracking as I didn’t know what to expect, but I soon got into a routine. I would go into the room, lie on the table and then have the proton beam pointed at me and I was done in 30 minutes. I felt ok for the first few days, but then I started to get quite tired, and my leg started to hurt. Even with the pain killers I had a buzzing pain, and I struggled to sleep. 

Teenage Cancer Trust Support

Claire was my main nurse and was there to hold my hand throughout the whole process and answer any questions I had about my treatment.

Amber, Teenage Cancer Trust’s Youth Support Coordinator, was really easy to talk to as well. She was able to relate to everyone and chats to them about the things which interest them. We often talked about gigs as we both love music. I love yoga and she offered me some free tickets for a yoga festival. 

She invited me to some events that she runs, like pizza nights. She’s quite creative with events as well. It was really nice to meet other people my age who had also been treated for cancer. I don’t know where I would be without that. I hadn’t met many young people while I was having treatment, and I felt like I was the only person my age going through it. Through Amber, I’ve met so many people who know what I went through, and it’s started to feel normal to me.

When you are first diagnosed it can be quite overwhelming. You’re given so much information that you don’t know where to start. Claire helped me navigate all of that and to prepare for what was coming next. I started to take things one thing at a time, and it made everything easier. When you go to the hospital you get to see the nurses, Youth Support Coordinators and other young people with cancer.

Being helped by Teenage Cancer Trust means you are part of a community.