A first time mum who thought her exhaustion and migraine were pregnancy symptoms was stunned to discover she had a tumour the size of a grapefruit between her lungs. Kirsty Axworthy was around 12 weeks pregnant when she started experiencing symptoms including high blood pressure and night sweats.
But even weeks after she gave birth to her daughter Elle Axworthy last May alarm bells started to ring as her symptoms worsened rather than subsided. The 26-year-old was eventually diagnosed with stage one Non-Hodgkin's primary mediastinal large b-cell Lymphoma last July - a cancer that develops when white blood cells that help fight infection become abnormal.
The sales executive for new-build houses has since had chemotherapy to shrink the 13cm "ticking-time-bomb" located in her mediastinum, the area that separates the lungs The devoted mum credits her daughter, now 11 months old, who she described as a "wee miracle", for giving her "something to live for" while undergoing her gruelling treatment. Kirsty received news in January that she is now in remission.
