Keeslee's story

I went to see my GP and she was amazing. She did a blood test and told me I had a CRP inflammation marker. My CRP levels should have been below ten, but I think it was like 34. We did about two blood tests a week while my CRP marker kept going up and up and up.

After about three weeks, she sent me into hospital as there was nothing else that they could do at the GP surgery. I went into the hospital, and they did a scan on my abdomen. They were adamant it was just an infection, even after seeing the swollen lymph nodes surrounding my colon.

Shortly after that, this massive lump appeared on the left side of my neck. I saw the consultant the very next day and I had a biopsy and ultrasound. I then had to wait two weeks for the results. One week later, I couldn’t breathe and went straight back into hospital for a chest X-ray because they were worried that I might have a collapsed lung.

I remember thinking, “Oh, God, like what is wrong with me now?” Thankfully, the chest X-ray was fine, and my lung hadn’t collapsed. They thought it might be blood clots, so they ordered a CT scan of my chest. I think that was the one where they put it all together. It was midnight, and the doctor in charge told me to be back here at 8:30 in the morning to see the consultant. ‘He will need to see you and speak to you,’ she said.

I went back in the morning with mum, and they told us it was lymphoma, but they needed to wait for the staining stage test to determine which type. In the car on the way home, I was thinking, “Did he actually say it was cancer, though?” I was a bit in disbelief.

Friends and family were all saying to me, “At least they found out what it is. They can help you get better. You’re going to be okay, and you’ll get through it.”

One week later, I was told that the type of lymphoma I had was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Something just switched inside me at that moment, and I made a choice to try and be positive and focus on what I needed to do to get through this.

It was decided that I would go to the Cardiff Heath for my treatment because they specialise in treating young adults with cancer. They did a PET scan, and it was confirmed that I had Stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma. My mum was really shocked, but they explained that Hodgkin Lymphoma is different to other cancers, and you can still survive stage 4. I then had a meeting about the two different chemo options. One of them would take a lot more out of me because it was really strong, but it has a better success rate. I just went with that one because I thought, “Well, I’d rather have short term pain, long term gain.” And then I started chemo within two weeks.

When I first got diagnosed, I turned to TikTok to see if there were any other people out there in my situation. I found a couple of videos of people who have been through the same cancer as me, and I thought I want to share my story because you never know how many people it might help. Surprisingly, it helped loads of people.

I still get messages now from the videos, like there’s this mum who messages me all the time because her son is going through Hodgkin Lymphoma. She says, “If I never found your videos, I don’t know what I would have done.” I’m happy that it made a difference.

My family were really supportive throughout the treatment, and I had great friends around too. Everyone was amazing but I also think I found a lot of support and comfort in making TikTok videos about my cancer journey. It gave me something to focus on because I would be sat in bed on the ward editing them. It kept me occupied and gave me a real purpose.