In the photo: harmless rash on the legs, the first warning sign of blood cancer in a 27-year-old woman

A woman has revealed the worryingly harmless sign that she had a rare blood cancer.

Jessica Hamersley, from Essex, was unaffected by a red spot on her left shin that reappeared over the course of a year.

The 27-year-old, who dismissed it as eczema, assumed it was just irritated by her perfumed moisturizer and would go away on its own.

It was only after her fiancé urged her to get it checked, fearing it was related to her birth control pill, that she sought medical advice.

When a second pill failed to clear the rash, she was referred for an X-ray in October 2023, which revealed the truth was much more serious: she had a mass on her chest.

Subsequent biopsies found in February Mrs. Hamersley does Hodgkin lymphoma – a rare form of cancer that starts in the white blood cells – and she started chemotherapy.

A PET scan in March also showed the mass on her chest was more than eight inches in size and was ‘crushing’ her heart.

Recalling her terrifying ordeal, Mrs Hamersley said: ‘I sometimes use a scented moisturizer and sometimes for eczema which can cause my skin to flare up a bit. To be honest, I didn’t think anything serious about it at the time.

‘I thought maybe it was a flare-up on my leg or that I caught myself shaving. You never think about cancer.

‘A rash on my leg literally saved my life.

‘I don’t smoke, I very rarely drink when I go out. So I thought, I’m perfectly healthy, why would I get cancer?

‘I wasn’t coughing, when I saw the chest X-rays I thought, oh my God, that was on my chest, but I felt fine. It’s really strange.

‘I was so healthy. I actually feel more unwell from the chemo than before. I felt completely healthy with all the tumors.

‘I remember when I went to the X-ray room I said to the radiologist, “This is really dramatic, I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

‘You can usually get many other symptoms with Hodgkin lymphoma. I had nothing.’

Hodgkin lymphoma occurs when infection-fighting white blood cells called B lymphocytes multiply abnormally and accumulate in certain parts of the lymphatic system.

This can cause painless swelling in a lymph node, usually in the neck, armpit or groin.

Other symptoms include a persistent cough, fever, night sweats and weight loss.

Around 2,600 people in Britain are diagnosed each year, meaning the disease is responsible for less than 1 percent of cancer cases. In the US, 8,800 cases are noticed every year.

According to Cancer Research UK, almost 85 percent of those with cancer will survive five years or more after diagnosis.

Ms Hamersley was diagnosed with stage 2A Hodgkin lymphoma, which means the lymphoma was in two or more groups of lymph nodes, but there were no typical symptoms.

She also claimed her consultant at the Princess Alexandra Hospital told her the rash on her leg was erythema nodosum, a condition that causes fatty tissue to become inflamed.

It usually goes away on its own, but can sometimes be a sign of something serious, such as an inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease, according to the NHS.

The skin usually heals on its own within 3 to 8 weeks without leaving a scar. But other symptoms, such as joint pain and swelling, can last for several weeks.

Mrs Hamersley said: ‘When I spoke to the consultant about it (the rash) he said it’s a very strange way for your body to tell you something is wrong inside.

‘I thought it might be caused by stress. But they said it (the crowd) crushed my heart.

‘It was all crazy. I just really froze. I was with my partner and I feel like I was out of my mind, I wasn’t really listening.

‘The whole time they were doing tests they said the worst possibility was cancer, so my brain never went there.

“I thought they had the wrong scan.”

She added: ‘I cried when I was told I was going to lose my hair. Now it’s growing back so it doesn’t phase me that much, I’m used to it.

“But you just go into fight or flight mode and it was just survival. It was just “what now? What should we do?”

After starting aggressive chemotherapy in the spring, she was fortunately declared cancer-free in August.

‘It happened so quickly. But my advisor said if you are losing your hair quickly it is a very good sign that the chemo is working,” Ms Hamersley said.

‘I looked terrible when I was bald, but that was what I clung to. I was like, ‘oh my god, it should work then.’

To celebrate being cancer-free, she is now going on holiday to Disneyworld Orlando with her fiancé William Webber.

She said: ‘That weight has just been lifted off my shoulders and the shoulders of my entire family.

‘(Mr. Webber) He was just great. He has been my source of strength through all of this.

‘During chemotherapy, all we talked about was how much fun it would be if we went to Disney together.

‘I’m going to celebrate in the happiest place on earth.

‘I’m still very breathless and I feel like my joints are still very weak because I’ve developed arthritis from the chemotherapy in my hips and spine.

‘I’m so glad it was caught early and the treatment was less than it would have been. I am very grateful to that doctor.’

Ms Hamersley, who worked in customer service before her diagnosis, is now recovering from her treatment and rebuilding her stamina before returning to work.

She will still need follow-up scans and blood tests every few months to check that the cancer has not returned.

Now she is urging anyone concerned about their unusual symptoms to seek medical help as soon as possible.

“Life is so short and you don’t realize it until this happens,” she added.

“You never promised tomorrow and that’s one of those big quotes that’s stuck in my head right now.

‘Cancer completely changes your perspective on life. I used to get angry when someone cut me up while I was driving, and now I just think about letting it go.

‘I have now let go of everything. It’s never been this deep again, it’s never been this important again.’