A student was given a devastating diagnosis after writing off her tiredness to hangovers and a big workload. Molly Hunt was developing stomach pains from October 2021 every time she drank before two big lumps appeared on her collarbone and her skin started to itch four months later.
The 21-year-old was initially told this was probably glandular fever but unfortunately was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma in June. The aspiring air hostess has since been undergoing chemotherapy after the cancer was discovered in the left side of her neck as well an 8cm mass in her chest, WalesOnline reports.
Molly, from Buckinghamshire, said: "I was extremely tired. It would get to 1pm and I'd crash, I'd feel like I was in a dream. I couldn't really focus on a lot of things as the tiredness was that bad.
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"Sometimes I thought it was a hangover and sometimes I put it down to the workload at uni. I thought I was overdoing myself. I found myself going to less and less lectures because I was just so tired.
"Even if I went to bed at 10pm sometimes I'd be waking up at 1pm because I was exhausted. I'd get a bit scared to go out on my own without my friends and boyfriend Harry because the tiredness would just hit me out of nowhere and I'd go a bit funny with it to."
Molly was in her second year of university studying geography when her symptoms first developed. Molly added: "I was going out and drinking quite a lot and the day after I'd get a really bad pain in my tummy underneath my diaphragm.
"I felt like I had to contract to get the pain away and tense my whole body, it was quite a surreal pain. I just thought 'oh this is new, my body must not be able to tolerate alcohol as much'. It really affected me and I started going out less and less with my uni friends just because I knew in the morning that I was going to feel abnormally awful, like really bad.
"In February I found that my neck swelled up a bit and then went down and I had a hard little lump on the top of my collarbone. It was probably the size of two grapes put together.
"I thought I had really bad acid reflux too but it (lump) was pushing on my throat and making me burp a lot and making me feel like I need to burp - that was quite a big thing. I was quite itchy. Sometimes it was a burning sensation other times it was really irritated by anything, I found that a lot of soaps irritated me more for some reason."
When Molly first discovered the lump on her neck in February she initially thought it was a side effect from having glandular fever back in September 2021. She visited the doctor that month where they ran some blood tests and put it down to her reactive lymph nodes.
When her lump hadn't disappeared in a fortnight she returned and was put on a two-week cancer referral and sent for an ultrasound, but within that time developed a second lump. When she went for her ultrasound she was advised that the lump was too big so they did a biopsy there and then on May 3rd.
Molly said: "It was the scariest thing. I've never really been in hospital or had problems. My biopsy must have broken up the cancer or something because I had loads more lumps on my neck, I had about six that I could feel and it went to my chest and I started getting a really big lump on my chest.
"It took a whole month for the results to come back. I came back from work on the Monday and had one of the best days at work I had and my dad was like 'can you come in the lounge with me and Harry?'.
"My dad was like 'you have cancer, it could be Hodgkin's' - the letter was very vague. I remember I was uncontrollably crying - it was like I was almost screaming it was horrendous. It was definitely the hardest thing I've ever heard in my life. I initially thought, 'am I going to die?' Is my life completely changed forever?'"
Two days later, Molly visited her consultant where she was officially diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. Nine days later she had a pet scan and discovered she had stage two Hodgkin lymphoma before she started chemotherapy.
Molly said she started to develop a cough just before the treatment, which has since gone. Molly said: "It's mentally been really hard because it's the same every day - the fear of the unknown and what's going to happen next.
"It's impacted my life greatly and made my heart hurt for my family. I've always struggled with health anxiety. That's how I really found out everything because I'm so in touch with my body and make sure I check for lumps monthly.
"I think it's really impacted that as I'm constantly taking my temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels. I'm living in my nightmare. I went into my third round of chemo in a more positive mindset and I am excited for the future now."
Molly, who loves travelling, now shares informative TikTok videos about Hodgkin lymphoma and has amassed more than 80,000 views from doing so. She was supposed to have 12 rounds of chemotherapy but as she's had a full metabolic response and is in remission, it's been cut to just six rounds but she may have to have radiation treatment.
The 21-year-old is currently fundraising for Lymphoma Action which is the UK's only charity dedicated to lymphoma. Molly said: "Seeing other people's videos really helped me when I got diagnosed and I wanted to show everyone going through it that it's ok and chemo isn't as scary as you think it's going to be.
"I want to create a safe space for people to come to and look at my videos and think 'oh, it's going to be ok'. Cancer is a big and scary word. It's very scary and I just think it's nice for people to be able to look at my page and try and find a positive out of a negative.
"My message would be - nobody knows your body like yourself and if you know that there's something off get it checked because it can definitely save your life. As soon as I found my lump I was in the doctors, which was why I caught it early so I'm quite lucky."
You can donate to Molly's GoFundMe here.
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