Beth Harris, 24, visited her GP after suffering a cough for a month and was assured it was a chest infection, before tests later discovered she had a much more serious diagnosis
A young woman whose doctor said her persistent cough was only a chest infection was shocked when she learned she would have been dead within months if she hadn’t had it checked out.
Beth Harris, 24, was urged to visit her GP after suffering with the cough for a month and was given two different antibiotics, neither of which worked. She was sent for an x-ray and CT scan and, after being told to expect the results two weeks on, was called back only days later and given crushing news. Beth was diagnosed with stage two B-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, and is now undergoing an intense course of chemotherapy.
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She said: “I remember her saying ‘you’ve got lymphoma’ and I burst into tears and zoned out. Instantly thinking ‘I’m going to die and my mum’s going to have to plan my funeral’.
“To begin with, I disassociated from it when you heard the word cancer, but now I’ve accepted it. I can’t do anything to change anything – it’s about breaking down the treatment into smaller periods of time.
“It was a lot to be told I had a chest infection to suddenly cancer. They said the minute they took a look at my results, they saw I hit every single marker for cancer.
“You know your own body and I had a feeling when they asked me to come in and my mind instantly went to cancer. She said if I had left the cough, I would have been dead by Christmas.”
Beth was initially told she would be having a six-month course of chemotherapy, but because of fluid around her heart, a decision was made to change it. B-cell lymphoma means abnormal white blood cells have multiplied to form tumours.
Beth added: “I’ve got lumps in my neck and chest and one main tumour blocking the entrance to my heart and left lung. They first said six months of chemotherapy every two weeks, but because of the fluid around my heart, they changed it to every other week for three months.
“The fluid has been caused by what they thought was the chest infection. If after that all is well, they’ll drop the hospital side of it, and then I’ll take tablets for another three months.
If you don’t feel well, get yourselves checked out. I was one of those people thinking it was just going to go, and I would be dead by Christmas if I didn’t finally go.
“I’m lucky that I’ve got a really good GP. It’s scary to think at 24, my mum would have been planning my funeral in the New Year – that’s hard.”
