'I thought I was going to die': Woman hit with cancer diagnosis at 25 after three symptoms raised alarm

By June, she spotted a lump in her neck, prompting her partner, Olivia Read, 28, to urge her to see a doctor. A GP confirmed a swollen lymph node but couldn't explain why, simply telling Kelly to keep an eye on it.

Over the following three months, Kelly visited her GP surgery six times without getting a proper diagnosis.

After she and Olivia Googled her symptoms and asked whether it could be cancer, Kelly said: "They laughed at us and said there was no way it was cancer."

Doctors eventually referred Kelly for a biopsy, CT scan and ultrasound as her symptoms worsened. And on September 8, she brought Olivia along to hear the results.

"I'm really sorry to tell you, but you've got cancer," the doctor told her.

Kelly said: "The first time she said that word, I thought I hadn't heard it right. I just burst out into tears."

She recalled looking at Olivia: "I've never seen her cry the way she did. You know when you have a moment that you'll never forget?"

The couple left devastated, with no treatment plan or information about whether it was even curable.

"We came out of that appointment really upset and thinking that I was going to die at 24," Kelly said.

The following day, Olivia rang the doctor demanding answers, and that's when they learned it was Hodgkin lymphoma – though details remained scarce.

After 10 anxious days of silence, a follow-up appointment confirmed it was classic Hodgkin lymphoma with a generally good prognosis, and Kelly would receive the most intense treatment available.

Doctors also requested an urgent bed at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, worried that a lymph node was pressing against her windpipe.

Kelly was admitted to the hospital and started an intense chemotherapy regimen called escalated BEACOPDac at the end of September.

The treatment involved 21-day cycles of chemo, filgrastim injections to boost white blood cell production, and steroids – six rounds in total.

Her hair began falling out after the first round, and she suffered painful bone marrow side effects from the injections, along with reduced mobility.

Kelly described her mental health during treatment as a "rollercoaster". She has completed her final round of chemotherapy on January 14, and is now looking ahead to a PET scan at the end of February to check whether the cancer has gone, with a follow-up appointment in early March where she hopes to get the all-clear.

The Teenage Cancer Trust's youth support coordinator, Cathy, helped Kelly through treatment, playing card games and chatting about books during chemo sessions.

Having got engaged soon after the diagnosis, Kelly and Olivia are planning a relaxed engagement celebration at their local pub with family, followed by a wedding within two years.

Kelly now wants others to learn from her experience.

"You get told about checking your boobs, but you don't get told about checking your neck," she said. "I also think people need to advocate for themselves with doctors if they're not being referred properly. We all think that it's never going to be us, but it could be."