The first thing Seren noticed was a small pea-sized lump on her neck. She didn’t really think too much of it, comparing the lump to a swollen lymph node.
However, as time went on, the lump got bigger and hard. She also noted that along with this, she experienced neck pain after drinking alcohol.
“I had gone out for some drinks and woke up the next day and my neck was in so much pain,” she said.
She later found out that these hard lumps were in fact tumours.
Seren, a second-year English Literature student at the University of Sheffield, is now taking a break from studying until September after being diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin Lymphoma, a blood cancer.
With her time off, she wants to raise awareness of the symptoms to look out for. She would also like to reassure anybody who may be experiencing the symptoms outlined in this article not to panic, as this type of cancer is treatable and curable.
Seren said her symptoms could easily be brushed off among students and young people, describing the symptoms related to alcohol and extreme tiredness as “everyday” and “common” for students. She noted that in relation to just generally feeling under the weather.
“There are so many young people who could mistake that for university life,” she said.
Seren explained that swollen lymph nodes can make diagnosing a disease particularly difficult because they can appear for any reason as an immune response.
She said: “If after about a month you notice they’re still there, and especially if they go hard, that’s a red-flag. I didn’t know that until my doctor told me.”
Places to look out for swollen or hard lumps include your neck, armpit, and groin.
Seren also explained: “Lymph nodes that are healthy are soft, movable. You can squish them around. They can be quite tender as well, because they’re obviously for responding to infection.”
She emphasised that not everyone gets lumps with Hodgkin Lymphoma. Which, in her words, “is even more confusing.” She says her consultant told her that some people only have lumps inside their body and they can’t see them. Seren explained that this was also the case for her, saying, “there’s ones in my chest you can’t see.”
In addition, Seren experienced breathlessness and chest pain. She said: “That’s because I have cancer in my chest, but apparently a lot of people get that as well as a cough.”
She also stated that a cough would be a cause for concern if you find yourself coughing and not knowing why, not being able to link it to something like a virus.
Seren spoke about how her symptoms were “brushed off for being like a chest infection” because she was previously ill with a horrible cough. Once she began to experience chest pain, the doctors gave her a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, but the next day Seren received a phone call to tell her they had found a mass in her chest.
Seren described the experience as scary, saying, “it’s something you don’t expect to be told.” She was reassured by the doctors that the cancer is treatable and curable.
She said: “Because modern medicine is so advanced now and the treatments are so good, it is one of those cancers that are so treatable.”
Moreover, Seren noted that she was experiencing extreme tiredness, the kind that “no amount of sleep could help.” This was paired with both night sweats where she would wake up covered in sweat and fevers that the doctors also commented on once they were running tests.
Seren also experienced bizarre itchy skin which she says happens “particularly on the lower half of your body, but some people say that they get full body itches.”
She also mentioned she had a high heart rate as one of her symptoms, saying, “I could feel my heart working really hard, even if I was just sitting down.”
Seren described another of her symptoms as unexplainable weight loss. “A couple of months after I noticed the lumps I noticed my trousers weren’t fitting me properly,” she says, “and I thought that was really weird, because I hadn’t been eating differently. I hadn’t been doing more exercise.”
Weight loss is importnat to look out for as a symptom for any sort of cancer, not just Hodgkin Lymphoma.
The usual course of treatment for Hodgkin Lymphoma is chemotherapy, which is how Seren’s cancer will be tackled. Unfortunately, the reason for Hodgkin Lymphoma developing in the body is still unknown. “They know how it happens, but they don’t know why it happens,” says Seren.
Her consultant told her there are two peaks around the ages of 18-23, and between 45 to 55, whern you are more likely to get it.
“I don’t want anyone to think if they have those symptoms to panic,” said Seren. “I’ve been told it’ll take months, but it’s not one of those things where they’re going to say to you, ‘I’m really sorry there’s nothing we can do for you’. It may be tough, it may take months, but you’ll be fine.”
