Jack

I was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma in July. Initially I had been a small rugby training session when I felt a sharp shooting pain in my lower back which left me unable to stand/sit up. An ambulance was called and I was taken into hospital, my initial thoughts were that I must have slipped a disc in my back from lifting the weights in the session.

That night I had multiple different scans and was on a lot of pain killers so it’s still a bit of a blur. When I woke the morning after I was taken for a CT scan whilst the doctors were trying to work out what was going on. I was still in the mindset that it was a slipped disc. A few more scans later and they then told me they had suspicion that there was a form of cancer but were unsure what kind. This took me by surprise and initially, laying in hospital I just felt angry. Why me.

I then had a small biopsy followed by a pet scan. This confirmed that is was a lymphoma but the doctors wanted to do a larger biopsy so they could get an exact reading in order to have the best treatment possible. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and I was under the impression it had been caught early. But clearly I was wrong as it was stage 4. My next thought process was: right we’re gunna beat this. So I had the bigger biopsy confirming it all and have started the first lot of treatment. It seems like it’s going to be a lengthy process and I should be cured by may!