Charleigh's Story

My daughter Charleigh is 23 years old and she has a 2 year old daughter. In May 2023 Charleigh was complaining of feeling constantly tired and we all just put it down to her having a baby and being a new mum as Ivy her daughter would have only been 7 months old at the time.

We went away on holiday to Cyprus as family and Charleigh found a very small lump in her neck, at the time she has had a throat infection so we thought it was just that, we had a lovely holiday and came back and never thought any more about it.

She attend to the gp and they advised it was nothing to worry about, in June 23 Charleigh said the lump was still there and it felt bigger, again she returned to the gp who then advised she would need to see the oral maxillofacial consultants and advised it was mucous cyst and nothing to worry about.

The next 6 months the lump continued to grow to the point her neck was very big, after attempting to get referred again and again with no avail, she changed gp surgery’s and the new gp finally agreed in dec 23, for a referral as urgent.

The department advised it was a cyst but my daughter insisted she wanted a biopsy and that she will not leave until they do one and it was agreed they said to put her mind at rest, this took place on 29/12/23, she was due to return on 19/1/24 but received a letter on 2/1/24 to move this forward and see them on 8/1/24. We just knew by the letter there was something wrong. We attended on 8/1/24 and were informed the biopsy has come back as cancer but they didn’t know what kind.

A 2nd core biopsy was done on 19/1/24 and appointment to re attend on 23/1/24 for results, it’s was determined as ALCL -Anaplastic large cell ALk positive lymphoma , my whole world fell apart I had no idea about any cancer

We then attended addenbrookes hospital 2/2/24 to see the consultants who confirmed she had serveral lumps in her neck and a few in her arm pits, it’s was advised she would have 6 cycles of BV-CHP.

It was a very tough journey for her losing all her beautiful hair and not being well enough to take care of her daughter, I was lucky I could work from home or hospital and be with her every step of the way, after chemotherapy no 3 she started to have issues with palpitations in her heart, but we pushed on chemotherapy 4 but this issue became more difficult for her, alongside having neutropenia sepsis in may 24, we nearly lost her, she was referred by her oncologist to heart doctor who determined slight heart failure due to the Brentuximab(one of the chemos).

It was decided it was more important to keep pushing with the chemotherapy to get her into remission and try to stop a relapse in the future after chemotherapy no 5 enough was enough they took that particular chemotherapy away and last chemotherapy no 6 the BV chemo was omitted as the oncologist didn’t want to risk any further complications with her heart.

Her next scan was done in June 24 after 6 treatments and complete metabolic remission was determined, we were relieved to say the least, it’s been very hard for Charleigh.

From the scan in June 24, we found out in late August that it was noted there is a new mass in her chest this time that was not present in scan in April 24, they think is a swollen thymus gland which can often occur after chemotherapy in youngsters, she is on a watch and wait and due to have her scan for this on 3/2/25.

We are so grateful she is able to have this opportunity to stay in one of Bens retreats and to enjoy a much needed break in hers and her daughter life.