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<\/p>\nA TEENAGER has revealed how she was given a devastating diagnosis at just 16 years old after her laugh started to sound like a \u201cseagull\u201d.<\/p>\n
Maddy Elleby, now 18, from Farnham, Surrey, first started feeling unwell while on holiday in Sweden but brushed her symptoms off as the flu.<\/p>\n
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She started to get a squeaky voice after her travels \u2014 months before she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare cancer that affects the lymph nodes, in January 2021.<\/p>\n
Initially, doctors gave her antibiotics and inhalers but neither kept her cough at bay and she soon began to notice numbness down her arm and a lump on her collarbone.<\/p>\n
She turned to the internet, checking her symptoms against a variety of diseases, and soon rushed back to the doctor \u2014 where she was given the heartbreaking news.<\/p>\n
Maddy said: \u201cI did what most people do and Googled my symptoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brought up glandular fever and mono but I went down a wormhole and landed on a page for Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma and all of my symptoms matched.<\/p>\n \u201cThat worried me, along with the fact that I was feeling under the weather and had a persistent cough.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lump I found on my collarbone was unusual because my collarbones had always been quite pronounced.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200cI went to talk to my older sister and said: \u2018I think I have cancer\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTypically of an older sister, she said: \u2018Shut up, you're being so dramatic you don't have cancer \u2014 stop trying to freak me out\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d already been researching wig companies and looking at videos of people having chemotherapy<\/p>\n Around 2,100 Brits are diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma every year and it is more common in people aged 20 to 40, or over 75.<\/p>\n It develops in the lymphatic system, a network of vessels and glands spread throughout your body.<\/p>\n The cancer affects disease-fighting white blood cells and early signs include a painless swelling in a lymph node, usually in the neck, armpit or groin.<\/p>\n Once Maddy\u2019s lump began to grow, she went to see the doctor again \u2014 who sent her for a neck X-ray and ultrasound.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI convinced myself that I had cancer. I wanted to go into medicine, so I was medically aware.<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctor listened to me and was fantastic. She got me booked into an ultrasound and an X-ray within a week and did blood tests.\u201d<\/p>\n The most common symptom of Hodgkin lymphoma is a swelling in the neck, armpit or groin.<\/p>\n The swelling is usually painless, although some people\u00a0find that\u00a0it aches.<\/p>\n Some people with Hodgkin lymphoma also have other more general symptoms. <\/p>\n These can include:<\/p>\n Source: The NHS<\/p>\n Sadly, Maddy received confirmation of her suspected diagnosis.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cAll of my family were sitting around with tissues and glassy eyes. They thought the news was going to shock me but I just said: \u2018I have cancer don\u2019t I?'.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d already been researching wig companies and looking at videos of people having chemotherapy.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving prepared myself helped but it was still an overwhelming experience and I was worried about losing my hair.\u201d<\/p>\n Maddy chose to only tell the news to her closest family and friends.<\/p>\n In February that same year, the student started chemotherapy at The Royal Surrey County Hospital and organised her sessions around her class schedule.<\/p>\n She was diagnosed as stage 4, meaning the cancer had spread to other organs or bones.<\/p>\n Maddy said: \u201cI couldn\u2019t face the idea of having to support other people and making sure other people were okay.<\/p>\n \u201cMy family all reacted differently \u2014 I got a lot of gifts. At times I felt like I was comforting them more than they were comforting me.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided to just carry on at college and not tell people. I shaved my hair and wore a wig and pretended I\u2019d had a haircut.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a picc line catheter so I wore long sleeves all of the time, too.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was fine when I started chemotherapy in the winter, but I had chemo through to July, so it was hard to explain to people why I was still wearing long sleeves when it was boiling [outside].<\/p>\n \u201cI had around 30 pills a day and my bag rattled when I put it down.<\/p>\n \u201cI constantly thought: \u2018I don\u2019t want to get stopped on a train as they will think I\u2019m a drug dealer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After finishing her chemotherapy on July 19, Maddy organised a 17th birthday bash and announced to the remainder of her friends that she had been going through cancer treatment.<\/p>\n And she finally received the long-awaited all-clear from doctors.<\/p>\n Maddy said: \u201cI announced that I\u2019d had cancer with a cake that said \u2018F**k cancer\u2019. I told them I\u2019d just finished chemo and people couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were screams and tears and people were hugging and kissing me. I\u2019d held it in for so long, so it felt good for it to come out.\u201d<\/p>\n Sadly, the feeling wasn\u2019t to last \u2014 as the teen found another lump in her collarbone in October.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cIt was actually my first day at my new job. I felt it in the staff toilets and had a breakdown because I knew it was back instantly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe staff at the hospital didn\u2019t believe it could be back so soon, but I knew I was right.\u201d<\/p>\n Maddy would have to undergo intense chemotherapy once more and spend prolonged amounts of time in hospital.<\/p>\n I would want anyone struggling with cancer, newly diagnosed or not, to be assured there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel<\/p>\n But, speaking to doctors, she found out about a drug trial and was eager to participate to beat the disease once and for all.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cMy consultant at The Royal Marsden looked into a drug trial for 16- to 18-year-olds.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the right type of cancer and I was at the right stage, so I got to take part.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first scan showed that it was working well, but the second scan showed the progress had stopped and the tumour [was] growing back.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had to switch it up and I had to have chemo, immunotherapy and then a stem cell transplant in May 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the horrors she\u2019s gone through, Maddy says being on the Teenage Cancer Trust's Unit at The Royal Marsden Hospital has "opened doors in multiple ways\u201d \u2013 with her getting support and entertainment from the caring team.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cThey had all kinds of musical instruments, films, activities, great food and ice lollies.<\/p>\n \u201cAside from the drugs, it was great fun being on the unit. I had no responsibility or worries.\u201d<\/p>\n Two years since her diagnosis, Maddy is once more cancer free.<\/p>\n She will get scans every three months for a year and then once every six months for three years after that.<\/p>\n While receiving treatment, the student repeated her first year at college and has now gone off to study medicine at the University of Liverpool.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cPeople thought that I would be put off, but I still want to do medicine, just not oncology.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is too close to home and I\u2019ve had enough of cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n Maddy is also backing Teenage Cancer Trust\u2019s new \u2018What not to say\u2019 campaign, which launches today (8 November) with young people like herself sharing the most uncomfortable, bizarre and insensitive things people have said to them during cancer treatment.<\/p>\n She has shared how phrases like\u00a0 \u201cCan I try on your wig?\u201d and comments about weight fluctuations during treatment caused upset.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/female-patient-open-mouth-receiving-791107505-1.jpg\")
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