Suzanne works in marketing and had recently got married when, at the age of 29, she noticed a lump in her neck that did not go away
'I am not sure what finally made me go to see my GP, as I was feeling really well, but I was a bit worried that I had this lump in my neck that must have been there for a few months. My doctor said he wasn't sure what had caused it, so referred me to a head-and-neck surgeon at the local hospital for a biopsy.
'When I went to see the surgeon, she told me that it looked as if I might have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and I had better be seen by the haematologist. I had never heard of it, so I was shocked to find out that I might have cancer. I have always looked after my health and don't smoke, and I thought cancer was something that happened to older people.
'While I was waiting for my appointment with the haematologist 2 weeks later, I was really, really worried, and talked over what might happen with my husband. I was convinced that I was going to die.
'The haematologist confirmed that it was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), and she even found lumps in my armpits. But she reassured me that there was plenty that could be done nowadays and I shouldn't worry too much. She also explained a bit more about the cancer and told me that, while it is more common in older people, it is not that unusual to see it in people my age. To check the extent of my NHL, she ordered a series of blood tests and I had a CT scan, a PET scan and a bone marrow test.
'About a week after I had the CT scan, I went back to the hospital, and the haematologist explained that it showed that I had swollen lymph nodes in my tummy, as well as in my neck and armpits. The PET scan also showed that the nodes contained active disease - although my bone marrow was clear, which was a relief. They said this meant that I had stage III high-grade lymphoma, a type called diffuse large B cell lymphoma, and I would need chemotherapy.
'I was a bit nervous about this, but we talked it through, and I had six cycles of chemotherapy with monoclonal antibody therapy. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, although I did lose all my hair. I decided to go for scarves instead of a wig or anything like that, and bought lots of really pretty ones that made me feel much better. Also, I ended up shaving my head quite a bit to stop the itching when my hair was growing back between treatments.
'When I had finished the treatment and had some more tests, the doctors said I had done well, but my lymphoma only went into partial remission. As I had lumps in many places, they said that radiotherapy was not an option, and suggested that I had an autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplant.
'I had no idea what this would involve, and I was really shocked when I was told that it could affect by ability to have children. Although every woman feels the clock ticking when she gets to 30, I hadn't really given it much thought. I suppose I thought that there was still plenty of time, and I wanted to get on with my career a bit more to make it easier when it came to taking maternity leave.
'To answer the hundreds of questions I had, I was referred to a gynaecologist. She told me that the chemotherapy that would be needed before the transplant would probably make me infertile and I might end up going through the menopause. I really didn't know what to think when she told me that. The menopause had always seemed so far off, something that would happen when my children were already growing up. I couldn't believe that almost everything that made me feel like a woman would be taken away from me so quickly.
'The gynaecologist talked through all the options and told me that, because I was still young and so the quality of my eggs was likely to be high, my husband and I would be good candidates for freezing embryos. She said that these could then be implanted at some time in the future so that we could still have children. My husband and I talked it over and we decided to go for it.
'We got started straight away so that I wouldn't have to wait too long to begin having the stem cell transplant, and I was injected with hormones to stimulate my ovaries to produce eggs, which, unfortunately, made me really emotional and irritable. Then, the doctors used ultrasound scans to look at how my eggs were maturing. It was around this time that I started to feel bloated and uncomfortable.
'I was given another injection to make me ovulate and then the eggs were collected a couple of days later in the outpatient clinic while I was under sedation. At the same time, my husband provided a sperm sample and the eggs were fertilised in the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinic and we waited nervously to see if any would be viable. In the end, six embryos were found to be suitable for storage and, much to my relief, I was able to start the stem cell transplant.
'First of all, I had some more tests to make sure I was okay to have the treatment, followed by chemotherapy and, finally, the stem cell transplant. It was a really difficult time, although I was told that I coped well, which was probably because I knew that we had frozen the embryos.
'After the treatment, I had CT and PET scans that showed I was now clear of lymphoma. I was unbelievably tired. The whole process had been so draining, emotionally and physically, but the worst thing was that, as the doctors warned, my periods stopped straight after the treatment.
'They started me on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), but it was still very hard and I felt like I was less of a woman as a consequence. My husband was wonderful, though, and made me realise that I am still the woman he married, and that the most important thing is that I am healthy.
'I ended up taking a whole year off work in total, which I needed to get over everything. I still get nervous, even 18 months after I had the transplant, especially when I am just about to visit the hospital. But I am thinking about lymphoma less and less now. We are even beginning to think about starting a family.'
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