Rachael Murphy was 30 years old when an ominous email from Australian Immigration turned her life upside down.
“You failed the chest x-ray. Immigration wants you to see a specialist,” read the blunt email from May 2022.
The marketing manager was scared – not because of her health, but because she feared she might not be able to stay in Australia.
Born and raised in Britain, the young woman had moved Down Under in 2015, fell in love and planned to stay.
She had completed the routine health checks that are part of the application process without thinking twice. After all, she was young and healthy.
Rachael Murphy was 30 years old when an ominous email from Australian Immigration turned her life upside down
Rachael was born and raised in Britain, but moved to Sydney in 2015 and began the process of applying for permanent residency in 2022 – the first step towards citizenship.
In reality, she simply overlooked the symptoms of the disease, which threatened to derail her life and dreams.
“I was more focused on what that meant for the visa than my health,” Rachael told FEMAIL.
‘I had no idea what it could be. I had waited so long to apply for a residence permit, I didn’t want anything to get in the way.’
Rachael eventually visited several doctors and was diagnosed with stage 2A Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare cancer of the lymphatic system.
Looking back, she realized she had missed key clues that she had the disease: unexplained fatigue, coughing and loss of appetite.
‘I remember my chest being bad, but I have asthma and it fluctuates. “I thought it would sort itself out,” she said.
‘I was also very tired, much more than usual. I honestly thought I just had a lot of long days and needed some iron tablets or wanted to eat better.
‘Another common symptom is loss of appetite, and looking back, I wasn’t eating much at the time. But I’m generally not a big eater, so I didn’t pay attention to that either.’
Before the diagnosis, Rachael revealed that she was plagued with insecurity.
“I was due to go home to Britain a few weeks after receiving the email from immigration,” she said.
‘I had to call my parents and tell them I wouldn’t be coming back because the chest x-ray didn’t work out.’
Rachael said she didn’t want to believe she had cancer at first because she was only 30
Rachael’s doctor immediately became concerned and sent her for a CT scan.
‘My GP was very upfront about the fact that I couldn’t fly anywhere. I think he suspected it was cancer,” he said.
“He told me to make my health a priority and forget about everything else until it was resolved.”
It was then that Rachael realized she was dealing with something serious.
‘I had a biopsy and had a lymph node removed. Then I had a PET scan and the diagnosis was officially made.’
However, the words “Hodgkin’s lymphoma” kept coming up since the CT scan and doctors said they were just testing her to confirm what they suspected.
Rachael said she didn’t want to believe it at first because she was only thirty and was healthy in every way.
‘It wasn’t until I looked up the disease online that I realized I had many of the symptoms.
‘But it was still a big shock because I have no history of cancer in my family, and I never expected this to happen to me at 30. It was so overwhelming and intimidating.”
Rachael made the difficult decision to seek treatment in Australia, away from her family
Rachael made the difficult decision to seek treatment in Australia, away from her family.
‘First and foremost, I underwent a round of IVF and froze my eggs. Chemotherapy affects your fertility and I couldn’t imagine not having children in the future.
‘After that I had fifteen weeks of chemo and radiation.’
Rachael revealed that the first round of chemo was hard on her body and she ended up in the emergency room twice, including a five-night stay.
‘I couldn’t eat, I had terrible nausea and a burning sensation in my mouth. It felt like my saliva was acidic and on fire.”
Because her response to chemotherapy was unusual, her hematologist administered a white blood cell injection to control her symptoms and allowed her to continue with a somewhat normal routine.
Although her body did not cope well at first, the rest of her treatment went relatively smoothly.
Rachael’s partner Mick was her source of support throughout the whole ordeal. She said she wouldn’t have survived the treatment without him and her supportive friends
Rachael took Mick for a walk every time her thoughts were working overtime – even in the middle of the night
Rachael’s partner Mick was her source of support throughout the whole ordeal. She said she wouldn’t have survived the treatment without him and her supportive friends.
‘I’m not normally an anxious person, but I went through a lot after I was diagnosed. I had panic attacks regularly.
‘All my hair fell out. I never realized what a big part of my identity it was. I found it difficult to leave the house without my wig on.
‘I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize myself at all.’
Still, Rachael did everything she could to maintain a sense of normalcy. She got her eyebrows tattooed and created a ritual to ground her when she felt overwhelmed.
Whenever her thoughts were working overtime, she would take Mick for a walk – even in the middle of the night. She was also given anti-anxiety medication.
Nearly four months after starting chemotherapy, Rachael had another PET scan to see if the treatment had worked.
Her doctors were happy with the results, revealing that no traces of cancer showed up on the scans.
Rachael had to go back for blood tests every three months during her first year – and she was officially declared to be in remission.
Rachael had to go back for blood tests every three months during her first year – and was officially declared in remission in January 2024
Despite this, her fear often surfaces at unexpected moments.
‘Sometimes I started to worry that the cancer was back. Many little things used to plant a seed of doubt in my mind.
‘I am very grateful that Hodgkin’s lymphoma is one of the most curable cancers. My doctor recently told me that it was 90 percent likely that the cancer would never come back — and sometimes I have to sit with that number. It’s unbelievable.’
Rachael shares her story as the face of from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation 2 km per day in May challenge, raising money for cancer research.
She said it is important to raise awareness about the disease and support organizations that support cancer research.
The ACRF helped with the initial funding of professor Ian Frazer and virologist Jian Zhou, who invented the cervical cancer vaccine.