An English teacher who collapsed in a supermarket after being told by doctors her symptoms were due to stress has been diagnosed with stage four cancer.
Mollie Mulheron, 24, had recently returned from a trip to the Galapagos Islands where she was experiencing difficulty breathing and swallowing.
Despite having such trouble breathing that she almost drowned while snorkeling, doctors told her the problems were “in her head” and that she was “too stressed.”
She returned to the UK on 4 February and within 48 hours began vomiting and collapsed in a Booths supermarket in North Yorkshire.
Miss Mulheron was rushed to Airedale Hospital in Steeton where doctors performed tests.
Mollie Mulheron, 24, had recently returned from a trip to the Galapagos Islands – where she began to suffer from symptoms such as difficulty breathing and swallowing (pictured in hospital)
Miss Mulheron returned to the UK on February 4 and within 48 hours began vomiting and collapsed in a Booths supermarket in North Yorkshire (pictured during her travels)
Despite having such trouble breathing that she almost drowned while snorkeling, doctors told her the problems were “in her head” and that she was “too stressed” (pictured is a rash she got while traveling, one of her cancer symptoms)
Medics found a tumor 6 inches above her heart and lung and diagnosed her with stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
“I cried and screamed and screamed — it came out of nowhere, I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t think it was that wrong,” said Miss Mulheron.
Lymphoma is cancer of the lymphatic system, the body’s disease-fighting network.
More than 14,000 people in the UK and 80,000 in the US are diagnosed with NHL each year, according to charities.
It is a rare cancer, accounting for only four percent of all UK cases.
Miss Mulheron, from Skipton, Leeds, said her shock diagnosis was ‘the worst news of my life, I can’t even explain what it felt like now’.
She added: “I still can’t comprehend it now – [when I was told] I yelled at my mom about my future plans, how I wanted to be a mom and get married, all I could do was stare at the wall and cry and scream.”
Due to the aggressiveness of her cancer, Miss Mulheron was unable to undergo cryopreservation — the preservation of biological material by cooling it to very low temperatures — to protect her fertility before she began chemo on Feb. 21.
Doctors instead gave her an injection to put her into a temporary early menopause, hoping that once chemo was completed she could conceive.
She said this was “the worst thing for me, as I always wanted to be a mother.”
Miss Mulheron had flown to the Galapagos Islands to pursue her travel dream.
While there, however, she started experiencing strange symptoms, including a skin rash.
She was told there weren’t enough students to teach so she flew back to the UK on 4 February.
She collapsed two days later and was taken to hospital by ambulance before undergoing blood tests, an X-ray and CT scans.
Miss Mulheron was rushed to Airedale Hospital – where doctors found a six-inch tumor above her heart and lungs (Pictured: Her bruised arm in hospital)
Due to the aggressiveness of her cancer, Miss Mulheron was unable to undergo cryopreservation — the preservation of biological material by cooling it to very low temperatures — to protect her fertility before she began chemo on Feb. 21 (pictured at the hospital)
“I cried and screamed and screamed — it came out of nowhere, I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t think it was that wrong,” said Miss Mulheron
It is not clear why she collapsed.
Miss Mulheron was diagnosed with cancer on February 7, and on February 17, doctors confirmed it was NHL.
She was prescribed steroids to stop the tumor from growing and, due to the advanced state of the tumor, she quickly began chemotherapy.
“I’ve been fit and healthy all my life, I’ve always been totally fine – I don’t know what caused this, I’m healthy and young, three weeks ago I was in Galapagos living my best life,” she added please.
Doctors told Miss Mulheron they are hopeful they can treat the cancer as there are many options as she is young, fit and healthy.
Statistics suggest that stage four NHL has a five-year survival rate of about 64 percent.