'I was diagnosed with the exact same cancer as my mum'
A daughter who was diagnosed with the exact same cancer as her mother has shared the symptoms that first indicated it could be something serious.
Lucy Wiswould-Green, 24, was told she had Hodgkin lymphoma just three years after her mum, Melissa, was diagnosed with the same illness.
Lucy first realised something was wrong when she started getting a mysterious rash every time she drank alcohol and was more tired than normal.
She then noticed a few lumps in her neck and an ultrasound found one in her chest.
Even then, Lucy didn't think it was something serious as she was still fit and well enough to dance for 12 hours a day.
"I was getting symptoms from October," she explains. "Night sweats and a big rash every time I had a drop of alcohol.
"I first went to the doctor in January. I didn't feel unwell, but I thought I should go get checked out. It was mainly tiredness really.
"I just felt more tired than normal but as a dancer, you struggle to know where to draw the line.
"It was by the end of March that I started noticing some lumps in my neck and an ultrasound located another one in my chest.
"The one in my neck started to become a massive lump."
Despite the size of the lump in her neck Lucy says tests initially came back clear.
"It was like a big golf ball and I struggled to move my collarbone," she explains.
"The next morning I just wasn't settled with the result so I rang the doctors and requested a CT scan."
Lucy says her mum had been feeling very poorly in the period before her own diagnosis and as she still felt well neither felt overly worried.
"I was still dancing 12 hours a day and I assumed I wouldn't have been able to do that if I had cancer," she explains.
Lucy says that when she was told she had the same illness as her mum, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2019 before getting the all clear in 2020, her thoughts immediately turned to how her mum would feel.
"He [the doctor] started telling me what it was but I already knew as I said my mum had gone through it," she says of the moment she was diagnosed.
"I remember saying that I wasn't scared about what I was about to go through just that my mum would have to watch me go through what she had.
"She had survived all of that only to watch her daughter go through the exact same thing."
After her diagnosis Lucy was forced to postpone her third year of studies at university of Salford as she needed six months of treatment, including chemotherapy.
Lucy's mum, Melissa, accompanied her to every appointment, which she says really helped her through the treatment.
"I can't explain what chemo feels like, what the symptoms are or how it makes you feel," she explains.
"It's not just feeling sick and tired, it's just horrific.
"But when I was having it and she [mum] was there with me and she knew exactly what I was feeling.
"It was quite a relief actually because I didn't have to try and explain what I needed."
While Lucy was recovering, she decided to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust by rollerskating 300 miles around her home town of Lincoln.
She also ran the Race for Life to raise money for Cancer Research UK, donated her hair and made over 200 hand painted cards for people who would be alone at Christmas.
"I was keen to do something physical, something that was going to be helpful to raise money for the charity but also help get me back to uni in September," she explains.
"My doctor told me that I wasn't going to be able to go back in September to do a full-time dance course and I was like, 'Watch me.'"
Lucy and her mum have both now been given the all-clear and Lucy has graduated with a first-class dance degree and has won the university's outstanding commitment award.
"I was not going to let it [cancer] get the best of me," she adds. "I was going to go back and finish my degree."
Commenting on Lucy's achievements university dance lecturer Sarah Jane Lockwood says: "She is an unstoppable force.
"Before her illness, she was an outstanding student, taking all of the opportunities offered to her, both within the curriculum and through extracurricular opportunities.
"Throughout her time at Salford she has immersed herself in the dance, whilst also finding time to develop her musical interests and charitable activity."
What is lymphoma?
Lymphoma is a form of cancer that usually starts in the lymph system, which is part of the body's immune system.
It is the fifth most common cancer in the UK and the most common blood cancer in the UK, according to statistics from charity Lymphoma Action.
The two main types of lymphoma are Hodgkin lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer of a type of white blood cell called lymphocytes. Treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma is different from other types of lymphoma.
One of the most common and noticeable symptoms of lymphoma is swelling of the lymph nodes usually in the neck, armpits, or groin.
There are more general symptoms of lymphoma, which include fever, breathlessness, unexplained weight loss and itchy skin.
If you get a diagnosis of lymphoma, your treatment plan will depend on the type of lymphoma you have, your age, general health and how aggressive your cancer is, as some types of lymphoma may be slow-growing.
According to Cancer Research UK the main treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma include chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
For non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment may include chemotherapy, targeted drugs, steroids, radiotherapy and transplants.
Additional reporting SWNS.
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