Mike Yewdell received a stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis back in 2017, when he was just 27 years old, completely puzzled by the strange symptoms that had been plaguing him for months.
Now he's taken to social media to warn others about the warning signs he missed along the way, noting: "There were so many signs that I had cancer that I overlooked," he shared with his followers.
Yewdell was in peak physical condition when the symptoms first appeared, making it even harder to imagine anything could be seriously wrong.
He spent roughly four months thinking he simply had a harmless dry cough, but he also experienced strange symptoms, like itchy ankles whenever he came home after having a drink.
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Mike experienced intense itchiness around his ankles
|INSTAGRAM / MIKEYEWDELL
"I would come home and start itching my ankles," he recalled. "I'm in the best shape of my life, body fat, muscle, everything. I'm eating like crap, yet I'm losing weight."
Despite following intermittent fasting and eating poorly, the weight kept falling off him – something that should have raised alarm bells.
He also noticed a bizarre cracking sound his chest made every time he stretched, noting: "I had no idea a tumour was growing that would make my chest crack."
His symptoms had begun four to five months before doctors finally diagnosed him, with the night sweats particularly brutal.
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"There are night sweats where you wake up sweating, there are night sweats where you're dripping," he explained. "I was changing my sheets every morning, that's how bad it was. It was pools."
Mike recalls waking up in soaking wet sheets each morning, noting that his body was essentially working overtime trying to fight off the cancer, causing it to heat up dramatically.
About six weeks before his diagnosis, a cough appeared that simply wouldn't shift.
"It was a simple cough that wouldn't go away," he said. "Next thing, the cough is getting worse, and I can't finish sentences."
One of the most alarming signs struck when he attended a cocktail party and found himself unable to swallow his food properly.
"I thought I was getting nervous around people or had social anxiety, but it was a tumour starting to grow around my oesophagus," Yewdell revealed.
The uncontrollable itching sent Yewdell on a chase, trying everything from changing his clothes to swapping out his laundry detergent and even covering his furniture with different fabrics.
Mike's symptoms had begun four to five months before doctors diagnosed him
|INSTAGRAM / MIKEYEWDELL
As a recognised symptom of Hodgkin lymphoma, according to Cancer Research UK, itching can appear or get worse shortly after drinking alcohol, affecting around 5 in 100 people with the condition.
In most cases, however, the most common sign of Hodgkin lymphoma is a painless lump in one or more lymph nodes, typically found in the neck, armpit or groin area.
Mike eventually visited a dermatologist, still none the wiser about what was really going on. But it wasn't until he subsequently saw a doctor that the cancer was discovered,.
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