In summer 2019, 21-year-old Stacey Braddish from Dublin was away inter-railing with friends when she noticed herself becoming increasingly breathless. By the end of her trip, she had also developed a bad cough. Weeks later, the cough had worsened and Stacey found it hard to breathe at night when she was laying down “I convinced myself I had something viral, or maybe college stress had caused it all. At 21 I just thought, nothing too bad could happen me?”
Then one day in October, Stacey grabbed a coffee before one of her lectures “My heart started racing, it went up to 160 BPM.”
Stacey went straight to her college doctor who referred her on for an ECG and a chest x-ray.
“I was during the x-ray that they found a large mass, a 10cm tumour in my chest. Over the next week I had more scans and biopsies, I was then diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.” She recalls.
“‘I looked completely healthy, nobody would have ever known I had cancer that day, it is so important to get yourself checked if you are ever unsure, and to know your own body.
“I was in total shock hearing the news, I don’t think it fully registered with me until I actually started the treatment. I had four months of a certain type of chemotherapy but that stopped working, so they moved me to a more intensive one that made me really sick, with lots of side effects.
“I spoke with my consultant, she told me it normally takes three times the amount of time you spent in treatment, to begin to feel like yourself again. This definitely made me feel validated.”
“Eventually that also stopped working, so I began twenty sessions of radiation, which thankfully worked.” Stacey adds.
“During all of this, covid kicked off. I think this made the whole experience a lot worse. When I was in hospital, I was all alone. There also weren’t really any others my age on the ward with me. Additionally, I had no immune system, so I was terrified of testing positive for covid.”
As Stacey was in her final year of college when diagnosed, she decided to take a year off “I knew I wouldn’t be able to do my dissertation and focus the way I needed to, but overall I think I was a bit naïve about the impact it would all have on me. I thought when treatment ended, I would be right back to myself.”
“I went back to college in September 2020. Looking back, I think I probably should have waited a little longer. Everything was online because of covid, so that helped in some ways. But all my friends had moved away and had gotten jobs. I now didn’t know the people in classes with me.” She says.
Stacey also notes the mental impact of her diagnosis “It was a lot. I went to counselling for six months after treatment, which was really helpful. I had a big fear of reoccurrence, especially after my treatments failed. I also didn’t look like myself, you look in the mirror and don’t recognise the person looking back.
“I spoke with my consultant, she told me it normally takes three times the amount of time you spent in treatment, to begin to feel like yourself again. This definitely made me feel validated.”
Stacey found support online “I found people my age on Instagram, who were going through their own diagnosis. I actually ending up meeting some of them in person later on when I attended the Young Adult Camp in Barretstown, which is funded by the Irish Cancer Society. This was a great experience, it was so nice to feel normal and talk about what you went through, with people who got it.”
Stacey is now doing much better, working as a Cardiac Physiologist in a Dublin hospital “I love it there and I love my job. I also think my experience has helped me in my role. I can now understand the patient’s perspective and I like to think that shines through.”
For more information
Phone
1800 200 700
