BLOODY TRUTH
Woman, 27, shares the first warning sign of killer cancer that she mistook for a ‘shaving nick’
Jessica felt perfectly healthy despite having a huge cancerous mass growing in her chest - placing pressure on her heart
A YOUNG woman has revealed the worryingly harmless sign she unknowingly had a rare blood cancer.
Jessica Hamersley, from Essex, noticed a red throbbing mark on her left shin that kept disappearing and reemerging for over a year.
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The 27-year-old, who dismissed it as eczema or a shaving nick, assumed it was merely irritated by her perfumed moisturiser and would disappear on its own.
It was only when her fiancé urged her to get it checked out, fearing it may be related to her contraceptive pill, that she sought medical help.
When a second pill failed to get rid of the rash she was referred for an X-ray in October 2023, which revealed a mass on her chest.
Subsequent biopsies in February found Jessica had Hodgkin lymphoma - a rare cancer that starts in the white blood cells.
Read more on lymphoma
A PET scan in March also showed the mass on her chest was more than seven inches in size and had been "crushing" her heart.
Recalling the ordeal, Jessica said: "I sometimes use perfumed moisturiser and sometimes with eczema that can cause my skin to have a little bit of a flare up.
"Honestly at the time I didn't think anything serious of it.
"I thought maybe it was a flare-up on my leg or I caught myself when I was shaving. You never think of cancer.
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"A rash on my leg literally saved my life.
" I don't smoke, I only drink really rarely when I go out.
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"So I was thinking, I'm perfectly healthy, why would I get cancer?
"I had no cough, when I saw the chest x-rays I thought oh my god that was sitting on my chest but I felt fine. It's really strange.
"I was so healthy. I actually feel more unwell from the chemo than I did before. I felt completely healthy with all the tumours.
"I even remember when I went to the x-ray room I said to the radiologist, 'this is really dramatic, I'm sorry for wasting your time'.
"Usually with Hodgkin lymphoma, you can get loads of other symptoms. I had nothing."
Hodgkin lymphoma occurs when infection-fighting white blood cells called B-lymphocytes multiply in an abnormal way and collect in certain parts of the lymphatic system.
What are the signs of lymphoma?
LYMPHOMA is a term for cancer that starts in the lymph system - a network of vessels and glands that spans your body.
There are two main kinds of lymphoma – Hodgkin Lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Lymphoma can cause many different symptoms, depending on which type of lymphoma it is and where it develops in the body.
The most typical signs are:
- Swollen lymph nodes, such as in the neck, armpit or groin area
- Night sweats
- Extreme tiredness
- Itching
- Unexplained weight loss
- Fever
- Excessive bleeding, such as nosebleeds, heavy periods and spots of blood under the skin
Other signs of lymphoma in a more localised area include:
- Swelling of the stomach, loss of appetite and other abdominal symptoms
- Coughing, shortness of breath, or chest pain
This can cause a painless swelling in a lymph node, usually in the neck, armpit or groin.
Other symptoms include a persistent cough, a fever, night sweats and weight loss.
Around 2,600 people in the UK are diagnosed each year, meaning it accounts for fewer than one per cent of cancers.
In the US, 8,800 cases are spotted annually.
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According to Cancer Research UK, almost 85 per cent of those with cancer will survive for five years or more after diagnosis.
Jessica was diagnosed with stage 2A Hodgkin's lymphoma, meaning the lymphoma was in two or more groups of lymph nodes but there were no typical symptoms.
She also claimed her consultant at the Princess Alexandra Hospital told her the rash on her leg was erythema nodosum, a condition that causes fat tissue to be inflamed.
This usually goes away by itself but can sometimes be a sign of something serious like an inflammatory bowel condition, such as Crohn's disease, according to the NHS.
The skin usually heals on its own within three to eight weeks without leaving a scar.
But other symptoms, such as joint pain and swelling, can last for several weeks.
'I thought they had the wrong scan'
Jessica said: "When I spoke to the consultant about it [the rash] he said it's a really weird way of your body telling you there's something wrong inside.
"I thought maybe it was triggered with stress. But they said it [the mass] was crushing my heart.
"It was all crazy. I just froze really. I was with my partner and I feel like I zoned out, I wasn't really listening.
"The whole time they were doing tests they said the worst possibility is cancer so my brain never went there.
"I thought they had the wrong scan."
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She added: "I cried when I was told I was going to lose my hair. Now it's growing back so it doesn't phase me as much, I'm used to it.
"But you just kind of go into fight or flight mode and it was just survival. It was just "what's next? What do we do?"'
'I looked horrible'
After beginning an aggressive course of chemotherapy in the Spring, in August she was thankfully declared cancer-free.
"It happened so quickly. But my consultant said that if you lose your hair quickly it's a very good sign that the chemo is working," Jessica said.
"I looked horrible being bald but that's what I was clinging to. I was like "oh my god it must be working then".'
To celebrate being cancer-free, she is now going on holiday to Disneyworld Orlando with her fiancé, William Webber.
She said: "That weight just lifted off of me and all of my family's shoulders.
"[William] He's just been amazing. He's been my rock through it all.
"All through chemo all we ever spoke about was how much of a good time it would be if we went to Disney together.
"I'm going to go celebrate in the happiest place on earth.
"I'm still very out of breath and I feel like my joints are still very weak because I got arthritis from the chemotherapy in my hips and spine.
"I'm just so glad it was caught early and the treatment was less than it would have been. I'm very grateful to that GP.'
'You're never promised tomorrow'
Jessica, who was working in customer service before her diagnosis, is now recovering from her treatment and building her stamina back up before going back to work.
She will still need to have follow-up scans and blood tests every few months to check the cancer has not returned.
Now, she is urging anyone concerned by their unusual symptoms to seek medical assistance as soon as possible.
"Life is so short and you don't realise that until something like this happens," she added.
"You're never promised tomorrow and that's such a big quote that sits in my head now.
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"Cancer completely changes your perspective on life. I used to get angry if someone cut me up when I was driving and now I'm just thinking let it go.
"I just let everything go now. It's never that deep now, it's never that important anymore."
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