A teenage cancer survivor accidentally learned of her devastating diagnosis from a radiographer who cried during a scan.
Molly Cuddihy, then 15 years old, was diagnosed later that day with a rare form of bone cancer.
Doctors rushed the now 21-year-old through to begin chemotherapy the following week.
Recalling her diagnosis, Miss Cuddihy, from Inverclyde, Scotland, said: ‘The woman who did my scan started crying.
“If that wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what is.”
Molly Cuddihy, 21, didn’t realize how sick she was until her radiographer started crying mid-scan as she looked at the result
The maths student, pictured with Gary Barlow at a Teenage Cancer Trust concert at the Royal Albert Hall, knew something was wrong for about six months before she was told on January 16, 2018, that she had metastatic Ewing’s sarcoma.
Miss Cuddihy now has no active signs of her Ewing sarcoma, the cancer she was diagnosed with in January 2018.
The news came as she was preparing for her exams.
She had planned to go to medical school, but that was all “taken away,” she recalls.
Speaking about her experiences with Radiotherapy, a new podcast for young people that tackles difficult topics such as mental health, body image and mortality, Miss Cuddihy said: ‘That was all taken away from me in less than a minute.
‘Everything falls away.
‘There are so many parts of your life that it affects.
“It’s so much more than just a cancer diagnosis.”
In the podcast, she recalled that things were “fine” until she had a stem cell transplant in 2020 and “completely broke down.” She explained that she had been struggling for a long time and wished more support had been available six years ago
According to Cancer Research UK, there are around 550 cases of Ewing’s sarcoma in Britain every year.
The rare bone cancer is usually found in teenagers and can cause swelling and pain near the affected bone.
It develops in the supporting tissues, including the bones, cartilage, tendons, fat and muscle, says Macmillan.
Miss Cuddihy, who has now completed her treatment, suffered irreparable liver damage and required a kidney transplant.
She said she was doing “fine” until she underwent a stem cell transplant in 2020 – to replace bone marrow destroyed by chemotherapy – and “totally broke down”.
She explained that she had been struggling for a long time and wished more support had been available six years ago.
She also admitted that she still has trouble sleeping and gets flashbacks.
Miss Cuddihy told BBC Scotland News: ‘There are things I’ve said on the podcast that they’ve never heard me say before and they’ve experienced it with me.
“It’s almost like you’re letting people in on a secret.”
While undergoing chemotherapy, Ms Cuddihy also suffered ‘frightening’ chills linked to a hospital infection.
In 2021, she recalled her ordeal while giving evidence to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry.
Other young people have also spoken about mental health on the podcast, including Mairi MacLean, 24, who is currently receiving her seventh treatment for acute lymphocytic leukemia.
She said the concept of “body neutrality” helped change her perspective on how she felt about her appearance.
It’s about being “at peace with your body, and not using up energy loving or hating it,” she explained.
‘It is a ship that tries hard to survive every day, whether you are sick or not, and that is truly remarkable.
‘My body will fluctuate and change over and over again, but I am at peace with that because I admire its strength and perseverance.’