• (0)
• 
• 

In 2000, I moved house, qualified as a teacher and married my wonderful husband Gary. In the run-up to Christmas, I developed a rash all over my body. The doctor reckoned it was down to rash and prescribed a course of tablets.

The medication didn't work, though, and I started to lose weight and began to feel more and more tired.

For nine months I struggled on, then one morning I woke up with a really intense pain in my neck. It went away, but then I began to get severe night sweats. At this point, I didn't know these are a classic symptom of lymphatic cancer.

Then a couple of weeks later I woke up with a huge cyst on my neck. My doctor referred me to a lump specialist.

I had a biopsy on the lump and was referred to an oncologist.

Eventually during the Christmas break 2001, I was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma.

It was a shock, but I suppose I always realised something was wrong - at least I had something confirmed finally.

The chemotherapy started almost immediately in the new year of 2002. I started off positively, and the symptoms disappeared to begin with.

Unfortunately, I began to get weaker and weaker, had to give up work and started to feel very isolated.

By the time the chemotherapy finished, I felt terrible. Although the lump disappeared, I'd lost all my hair and put on loads of weight, because of the steroids I'd been taking. My self-confidence was at an all-time low.

In September, the CT scans all showed that the cancer had gone and I began to work again on a voluntary basis about a month later. However, I always had this nagging feeling that the cancer hadn't gone.

When I discovered another lump on my collarbone in December 2002, I just knew. I'd always thought that something was wrong from the moment the chemotherapy finished, so I was prepared for bad news.

Fortunately, this time the chemo only lasted four months, followed by a month of radiotherapy.

I was so relieved when the treatment finished though and since then I've been feeling steadily better.

The Lymphoma Association also put me in touch with someone who had been clear of their cancer for a number of years.

It helped me to appreciate that after a while I might not be thinking about it every minute, or even every hour, or even for days on end. It gave me hope that normality could return to our lives.

I now give support to people who have the condition. People do need to take care of themselves, and to be aware of changes to their body. Don't ignore concerns, and if you're not happy with the advice you've been given, remember it's your right to seek a second opinion.

The great news is that I'm now pregnant with my first child. Gary and I are looking forward to becoming a family of three in January 2008.

Rebecca Bierton, 32, is a primary school teacher from Cambridgeshire.

Find more information about Hodgkins Lymphoma from the Lymphoma Association

• Comment (0)
• Send to a friend
• Print Page