Jason Stynes is a 21-year-old actor and professional wrestler from Dublin. He was diagnosed with advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma on September 24th, 2020. Jason was 19-years-old at the time, and shares a little about his experience below:
“I noticed a lump, ‘the size of a tennis ball’, in my Mam’s words, underneath my right arm. At first, I thought it was no big deal. I assumed that it was just a wrestling training injury. The possibility of it being cancer never even occurred to me.
“After about a week or two, I had still noticed no improvement, so that’s when I contacted my GP.I went to see him a couple of days later, and I will never forget his immediate reaction, the second he saw the lump under my arm, his face just dropped.
“I’m pretty sure he knew what it was right away, so he sent me into A&E the very next morning. I will never be able to thank my GP enough for what he did. He saved my life!”
“The next morning, I went to St. Vincent’s University Hospital, having numerous scans and tests done on my body, where doctors discovered more lumps, and that the cancer had spread to six different parts of my body. The cancer had spread to my spleen, chest, neck, collarbone, my bone marrow, and obviously underneath my right arm. If I had let this go any longer without getting checked, I don’t know what would’ve happened.
“They told me my diagnosis was Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in this very moment, it was as if time stood still.
“A biopsy was scheduled for two weeks later, to get a better understanding of what exactly it was they were dealing with.
“Results showed that the cancer was worse than originally thought. Doctors were no longer confident that standard chemotherapy would work, so they wanted to put me on a much stronger type of chemotherapy called BEACOPP.
“My oncologist pretty much told me to go home pack a bag, as they needed to start chemo immediately. I was warned that this form of chemotherapy may not work the first time around, and that once the six cycles were up, I may have to get radiation therapy, and possibly even more chemo after that. It seemed like I was falling down a bottomless pit.
"“They told me my diagnosis was Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in this very moment, it was as if time stood still."
“I was admitted into hospital every third Wednesday night for either 3 or 4 nights undergoing chemotherapy each day. Being discharged from the hospital on either the Saturday or Sunday. Then every second Friday, I had to get more chemo on the day ward, as well as get my PICC line cleaned. I would be able to go home that same day.
“During this time, I was out of work, I had no money, I couldn’t wrestle, and I couldn’t even leave my house, because of the pandemic. All of my doctors didn’t want me to risk catching corona virus, because my immune system was almost non-existent due to all the chemo.
“The pandemic affected everyone in many different ways, but for me, this was absolutely the lowest I have ever felt in my life. But once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up.
“Then finally after all my treatment, in February 2021, I finally got the call to say that I was in remission. This was the happiest I had felt in such a long time. It didn’t feel real to me.
“I felt as if I had missed so much during my treatment, so I made a promise to myself that when I best cancer, I was going to give 110% to wrestling. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to wrestle all around Europe and even in The USA. I also achieved a diploma in acting for stage & screen.
“Looking back on this experience now, I believe my experience with cancer, in a weird way, may just be one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I have learned that life is way too short, and that you shouldn’t live life in fear.
“You’ve can’t sit back and do nothing, because your dreams won’t chase you. You’ve got to be the one to do the chasing and go after your dreams, and that’s exactly what I’m doing!”
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