Charlotte

Stage 4B Hodgkin’s lymphoma

I was diagnosed with Stage 4B Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2017 at the age of 23, after almost a year of appointments trying to get a biopsy.

The road to diagnosis was tough as I have selective mutism, anxiety and a severe phobia of needles. It felt like no matter how hard I tried, my anxiety would kick in making it impossible for me to have the biopsy. In the end, I was put under anesthetic to have the lump removed for diagnosis. By this time one small lump had turned into several all over my body, and my neck had doubled in size.

After my diagnosis, I was transferred to the Macmillan Cancer Centre at UCLH and everything got easier. At first, I panicked, cried and refused to have chemo but the doctors understood my anxiety and my lovely social worker Zoe from CLIC Sargent was there at every appointment to support us.

When treatment started, I quickly realised there were tonnes of side effects and even more products to choose from, and that trial and error wasn't really an option because many of the products were expensive, unsuitable and could make things even worse.

I was desperate to make sure other people didn’t have to spend energy, time and money (which are often in short supply during treatment) trying to find things that really work for them.

This is when the idea for Comfort Crate was born.

Comfort Crate is a subscription box service focused on helping people receiving treatment or recovering from cancer by making life a little more fun and a lot more comfortable.

We’ve teamed up with experts and healthcare professionals to curate a monthly box full of tried and tested products, tips, tricks and guides tailored to each customer and their treatment.

I want everyone out there who is struggling and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel to know that things do get better and there are lots of incredible people and organisations out there to help you!