A Scots dad who developed a sore throat while gardening was shocked when he learned he was suffering from a so-called "silent killer".
Graeme Stirling from Dunfermline was 60 years old when he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which he had no idea he was suffering from.
Back in May 2020, the father-of-three woke up with a sore throat he thought had developed after spraying his fence with anti-fungal treatment while gardening.
It wasn't until the the managing consultant, 62, found a lump on his neck that he decided to visited his GP. It turned out to be a swollen lymph node and he was given the devastating cancer diagnosis a month later.
Graeme counts himself lucky that he noticed his symptoms when he did - and says he 'doesn't think he would still be here' if he hadn't gone to the doctors.
Graeme told the Record: "I didn't think anything about my health to be honest because I was still fine and healthy, but I woke up with a sore throat. I'd been spraying the fence with anti fungal stuff so I thought I'd damaged my tonsils.
"But it developed into a lump on the right hand side of my neck."
He added: "When the lump developed I went to the doctors immediately, I'd been kind of thinking about it because my tonsils felt like they were inflamed a bit.
"So it was really when the lump appeared I went to the GP. If I had left it I don't even know if I'd still be here."
Due to the pandemic, Graeme had to wait until he could get treatment. It was at this time he developed lumps in his groin area.
He said: "I had to wait sometime before I could wait go in for the biopsy. I had to isolate before I could go into hospital and get Covid tested and all the rest of it."
He added: "There was lumps in my groin that followed on and so it was probably about a month later in June that I got the results of the biopsy, which confirmed it was Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma."
Graeme was diagnosed with known as mantel cells lymphoma - a form of Non-Hodgkin's which causes white blood cells to become abnormal and build up in your lymph nodes.
He then endured intensive treatment for his condition, which he says physically impacted him more than the cancer itself.
"It was pretty intensive, it started off with three months of chemotherapy then a couple of months after that a stem cell transplant," he said.
"The only time I started to feel ill through this whole thing was halfway through my chemotherapy. You could be living life normally and you don't know anything about it because you don't feel ill.
"There's always talks of silent killers and it's definitely a silent cancer."
"The treatment had a 50-60 percent chance of success and even the success would probably mean its not gone away because there's a 30-40 per cent chance it could return.
"It could be controlled but it couldn't be cured, which is a message that you have to take a bit of time to mull over in your head."
Graeme was forced to stay at Edinburgh's Western General in isolation for almost a month while undergoing treatment during the pandemic.
He said: "I was in the same room in the Western General in Edinburgh for 27 days. I wasn't allowed to leave the room at all.
"That was horrible. Your body goes through a period of not being able to do anything and then only when your blood starts to normalise can you get out of hospital."
Following his transplant, Graeme would undergo further treatment for a year until he was given the all clear in June 2021.
He continues to raise awareness around lymphoma and has raised over two thousand pounds £2,000 for cancer charity Lymphoma Action by running a 10km race just four months after recovery.
Back in June, Graeme celebrated his first year as a survivor, but feels things could have been a lot different had he not taken quick action. He is now urging people to not ignore any signs or suspicions.
"Get it seen as quickly possible. I was quite fortunate I actually got it seen reasonably quickly but I could have left it for longer," he said.
"Even people who've got friends or family that might be showing symptoms but not doing anything about it, encourage them - march them to the doctors.
"The worst thing they'll tell you is you've got cancer, but the best thing that can happen is you haven't. You probably don't have it but it's always better to know."
Graeme's story is a stark reminder to never ignore when you detect something might be off with your health. While lymphoma's symptoms may not be as aggressive as other cancers, regularly keeping on top of medical check ups can help to spot the condition.
Charlotte Bloodworth, Advanced Clinical Practitioner at the University Hospital of Wales and spokesperson for Lymphoma Action said: "The numbers of people with lymphoma are increasing every year, more people are being diagnosed and more people are living with lymphoma as treatments become more and more effective.
"Lymphoma is less well known than other cancers so it is important to raise awareness of it so that more people can be treated earlier, often the later the presentation the more difficult it can be to treat.
"Sometimes people will present with a neck or axilla lump that has not gone away but feel well, others may have a lymphoma mass that cannot be felt and is discovered when having a routine scan for another reason."
Lymphoma symptoms
Blood Cancer Awareness Month runs through September, which seeks to educate people on variations of the illness including lymphoma.
Lymphoma is the most common type of blood cancer in adults and the fifth most common cancer in the United Kingdom following breast, prostate, lung and bowel cancer, according to charity Lymphoma Action.
There are three types of blood cancer - leukaemia, myeloma and lymphoma. Lymphoma is the most common of these, accounting for over half of all blood cancers.
Lymphoma develops when white blood cells called lymphocytes grow out of control. Lymphocytes are part of your immune system which helps to fight infection.
Charlotte explained that lymphoma symptoms very much depend on the type of lymphoma and where it is in your body.
However, there are some common symptoms, which include:
- swollen lymph nodes, in your neck or under your arms for example
- unexplained weight loss
- drenching night sweats
- itching without a rash, fatigue and fevers or difficulty getting over infections.
She added: "Lymphomas are not related to lifestyle or behaviours and can develop at any age, affecting both adults and children. However, different types of lymphoma are more common at different times of your life.
"For example, Hodgkin's lymphoma is more common between the ages of 15 and 40 and many types of Non-Hodgkin lymphomas are more common later in life.
"Having one or more of the symptoms does not necessarily mean you have lymphoma. Many of these are also symptoms of other health problems such as uncontrolled diabetes or infection.
"It is so important that you go to your GP to have any concerns investigated."
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