A young woman has shared the seemingly harmless symptoms she experienced before receiving a devastating cancer diagnosis.
In April 2022, at the age of 19, Poppy Beguely noticed she was suffering from severe hangovers after a night out – often vomiting, developing a sore in her nose and a rash on her face.
Although she initially put it all down to going too fast on drunken nights with friends, she became more concerned when she started coughing up blood and the symptoms persisted.
Poppy during treatment in hospital
Party girl: Poppy (right) on a night out with a friend in 2022
She was hospitalized three times between June and October 2022 after nights out and claims doctors thought she might have a deep vein thrombosis, put her on blood thinners and allegedly dismissed her concerns that something sinister was going on.
But it wasn't until December 2022 that alarm bells started ringing when she visited a doctor with a sore neck – and opened up about all the symptoms she'd been experiencing.
To her horror, a biopsy of a lump in her neck and a PET scan revealed that she had stage three Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system) and a six-centimetre tumor in her breast.
Poppy full of life during a night out (left) and after one of her brutal chemo sessions (right)
Following her diagnosis, Poppy started chemotherapy in February 2023, shortly after her twentieth birthday, and lasted four months.
“It was very bittersweet – I had spent so much time worrying about what was wrong with me and worried that something had been seriously wrong, and no one would find out what it was,” Poppy, from Auckland, New Zealand, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
'Part of me was glad I didn't have to worry about what exactly was wrong anymore.
'But then the other part of me was obviously quite upset that I had to go through chemotherapy and lose my hair/eyelashes/eyebrows.
'I had been a model for a few years so the thought of that was very difficult to understand, but at the end of the day you win some and you lose some.
'The doctors reassured me that it was unlikely to be fatal as long as I didn't get any serious infections during chemotherapy. They have a high remission rate for Hodgkin's lymphoma, (so) luckily I got the least of all the ailments.”
Her concerns had initially started after increasingly severe hangovers she suffered after a night out.
Poppy, who works as a florist and swimming instructor, said: 'If I started drinking it would take me two drinks to feel much drunker than most people my age, and maybe three or four drinks before I would start to feel very ill. to feel. .
'Almost every night I went out I ended up throwing up the same night or the morning after.
'I also noticed a trend where I would cough up blood in the morning after drinking and the rash on my face would flare up and get worse.'
Following her diagnosis, Poppy began chemotherapy in February 2023, shortly after her twentieth birthday, which lasted four months.
She said: 'I spent one of those months impatiently in hospital because I had a very serious and rare reaction to a blood transfusion, which left me with the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life – in my bones.
Poppy after finishing chemotherapy and growing her hair back
She gets to enjoy an espresso martini after being given the all-clear by doctors
'I was taking so many painkillers that it completely messed up my stomach and intestines and in turn my weight dropped to 35kg (5st 5lbs) and I was attached to a feeding tube.
“(It was) the only time I was really afraid for my life.”
Fortunately, the young woman was able to endure chemotherapy and is now in remission.
She has also been able to return to work, having had to focus on treatment for much of the year.
Poppy said: 'I think the worst thing about having cancer and coming out the other side is realizing that while your life is on hold, the world and everyone around you continues.
'For a while you feel like you've taken so many steps back that it's difficult to return to normality.
'Ultimately it gave me a different perspective on life.
'I remember being in hospital and not being allowed outside for weeks because mum's immune system was too compromised.
“When I went outside and the sun was on my face, I just started crying, and I couldn't stop.
“I took the smallest things for granted before the smallest things were out of reach.
“I'm grateful that I reclaimed my life, especially after a year of not knowing (what was going on).”