Paris

At the beginning of 2022, I noticed a lump in my neck which continued to grow bigger over the course of a few weeks. This prompted me to go the doctor, and at the same time I also noticed that my skin felt very itchy, and I was a lot more tired than usual. After a number of tests, I was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma in April 2022.

When I first received my diagnosis, it was very overwhelming. I felt frightened about what would happen to me, and anxious at the thought of starting treatment. After a round of fertility preservation, I started eight cycles of chemotherapy, followed by four weeks of radiotherapy. During that time, I found speaking to people who have also been through a similar experience really helped, so I decided to make videos on social media to help others in a similar situation. It was really nice to chat to people of my own age who were affected by the same type of lymphoma as me. I also found the information available from Lymphoma Action really useful, and I even took part in their Bridges of London walk with my friends before I started treatment to raise awareness about lymphoma and the work the Charity does to support people affected by it. 

I completed my treatment last December, and I am now in remission. Things are going well and I’m back at work full time. I still get tired quickly but apart from that I feel like my old self again. Looking back on it, I would say to myself now that the experience is not as frightening as I thought it was going to be. For me, the treatment was not as bad as I was anticipating – the nurses were so nice, and it didn’t hurt. My advice to anyone who has received a lymphoma diagnosis is to reach out to others. Lymphoma Action offer lots of ways to connect you with other people living with lymphoma where you will see that you are not on your own and that there are others out there who are going through the same thing.

Paris shared her story with us as part of our Let’s talk lymphoma awareness campaign which ran throughout Blood Cancer Awareness Month in September.