I remember feeling pains in my chest in late June or early July of 2021. I Originally remember thinking this was pain from working out due to my strict gym regimen with chest pain and tired muscles being a common occurrence. I remember after complaining about the pain Mum took me to the Doctor and the Doctor originally diagnosed me with Costochondritis, a condition that causes inflammation in the chest wall.
This assumption continued for several months, where I spent countless hours attending doctor appointments, speaking to physios, and taking pain killers to try to get rid of the unbearable pain in my chest.
With still no luck it would take several months later in late September that I would show the first indicators of cancer when a lump appeared on my neck. After this mum knew there was something seriously wrong and would take me to the doctor where I would undergo numerous X-rays, scans, and tests to try and see if the lump on my neck was cancerous.
After the results came back it reaffirmed our suspicions and I would be officially diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkins lymphoma on the 27th of September 2021.
When I was first diagnosed I went through many different emotions including anger, surprise, denial, anxiousness, sadness, shock, and overall just disbelief.
Even to this day, it’s still hard to believe I was diagnosed with cancer at 16, I still remember vividly it taking a couple of days for the seriousness of the situation to kick in. I still remember the day when it fully kicked in like it was yesterday, a week after I was diagnosed with lymphoma I was immediately rushed to the hospital where doctors performed autopsies and tests which required them to surgically remove a portion of the tumor found in my neck which was then sent to a lab to identify the subtype of lymphoma.
Luckily the results of the autopsy identified the tumor’s subtype to be Hodgkin’s lymphoma, now in usual circumstances being diagnosed with any type of cancer would be thought of to have no positive elements whatsoever. But in this case, I was so grateful for being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, as it meant that my cancer was treatable which meant that I had a higher chance of living.Â
I think even though the situation as a whole was mostly tragic, I do think some positive outcomes came out of it.
Being met with such serious consequences at such a young age is truly a forever humbling experience that has made significant changes to my overall identity. Prior to being diagnosed with cancer, I was always thinking in the future tense, thinking about what I was going to do next in terms of school, career, and everything. The day I started treatment forever changed that mentality when being met with the possibility of death at such an early stage in your life you sit back and spend a lot of time reflecting on the decisions you’ve made, the time you’ve spent on earth, the time you’ve spent that with and the time that you have left. When being met with those circumstances, you immediately stop living in the future tense and start living your life at the moment as you never know when your life may come to an end.
When you begin to truly live life, you start to begin appreciating things that seem so minor, for example, I remember sitting in the hospital having chemotherapy administered through my veins thinking that I would much rather be worried about handing in an English assignment, rather than my own life.Â
During my treatment, the main source of support I used was the lymphoma nurse hotline. This helped me a lot as going through cancer is a scary and uncertain time which can cause an array of worry and anxiety due to the overall unpredictability and uncertainty of the situation.
With the support of Nurse Lisa and Lymphoma Australia as a whole, I was able to see things positively and was given clarity to issues that I was worried about, for example going to the gym. I remember feeling really anxious about not being able to go to the gym during chemo and Lisa would remind me that this was only temporary and life would return to normal or if not even better after treatment was over.
This motivated me and kept me going, and made me train 2 – 3 times a week during my treatment no matter how tired or fatigued I was. When I had a pic line in I trained my lower body, when it finally got removed I started training my upper body again pushing myself to my absolute limits even riding my bike over 5km from my house to my mates even which I can admit was probably not the safest of things but oh well!
It’s been over a year now since I was first diagnosed and I’m going great. I have started year 12 where I am planning on finishing my HSC and going to university to study Sports Business with high dreams of working in the NBA one day.
We are so grateful to Henry for giving us an insight into such a difficult time in his life. Henry is bravely sharing his story to help us shine a light on lymphoma this September for World Lymphoma Awareness Month.
If you would like to support our work in helping patients like Henry, please consider donating today.
