A mother and daughter have both beaten the same cancer. Lucy Wiswould-Green, 24, was confronted with a diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma, the same disease her mother Melissa had battled just three years prior.
Lucy’s studies at the University of Salford had to be delayed as she began chemotherapy treatment. But her mother’s previous fight with the illness provided her with an invaluable insight into what to expect.
Now, both mother and daughter are celebrating their triumph over the disease, with Lucy proudly graduating with a first-class dance degree and receiving the university’s outstanding commitment award.
Lucy said: “I was not going to let it get the best of me. I was going to go back and finish my degree.”
Noticing early warning signs like unusual fatigue and rashes after consuming alcohol, Lucy was initially oblivious to the seriousness of her condition, even with the demands of dancing up to 12 hours daily. She recalled: “I was getting symptoms from October. (I had) night sweats and a big rash every time I had a drop of alcohol.”
Lucy added, detailing her medical journey: “I first went to the doctor in January. I didn’t feel unwell, but I thought I should go get checked out. It was mainly tiredness really.”
Despite the exhaustive nature of her dance schedule, the emerging lumps on her neck by March, coupled with the discovery of another in her chest through ultrasound, were telltale signs that urged her to seek medical attention, reports Gloucestershire Live.
She said: “I just felt more tired than normal, but as a dancer, you struggle to know where to draw the line. It was by the end of March that I started noticing some lumps in my neck and an ultrasound located another one in my chest.
“The one in my neck started to become a massive lump. Everything came back clear despite the size of it. It was like a big golf ball and I struggled to move my collarbone.
“The next morning I just wasn’t settled with the result so I rang the doctors and requested a CT scan. My mum had been really poorly in the build-up to her diagnosis and I was still dancing, so neither of us was overly worried. I was dancing 12 hours a day, so I never thought I could have done that if I had cancer.”
Melissa was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2019 and was then given the all-clear in April 2020. Lucy said that when she was told she had the same illness, she was only scared because her mum was ‘going to watch me go through what she had’.
“He started telling me what it was, but I already knew as I said my mum had had it. I remember saying that I wasn’t scared about what I was about to go through, but that I was scared that my mum was going to watch me go through what she had. She had survived all of that only to watch her daughter go through the exact same thing.”
Lucy was forced to postpone her third year of studies after her diagnosis, as she needed six months of treatment, including chemotherapy. Melissa accompanied her to every appointment, which Lucy said helped because ‘she knew exactly what I was feeling’.
She said: “I can’t explain what chemo feels like, what the symptoms are or how it makes you feel. It’s not just feeling sick and tired, it’s just horrific.
“But when I was having it and she was there with me, she knew exactly what I was feeling. It was quite relieving actually because I didn’t have to try and explain what I needed.”
During her recovery period, she took the initiative to fundraise for the Teenage Cancer Trust by rollerskating 300 miles around her home town of Lincoln. In addition, she participated in Race for Life to gather funds for Cancer Research UK, donated her hair, and crafted over 200 hand-painted cards for individuals who would be spending Christmas alone.
Lucy said: “I was keen to do something physical, something that was going to be helpful to raise money for the charity but also help get me back to uni in September. My doctor told me that I wasn’t going to be able to go back in September to do a full-time dance course and I was like, ‘watch me’.”
Sarah Jane Lockwood, Lucy’s university dance lecturer, said: “She is an unstoppable force. Before her illness, she was an outstanding student, taking all of the opportunities offered to her, both within the curriculum and through extracurricular opportunities. Throughout her time at Salford she has immersed herself in the dance, whilst also finding time to develop her musical interests and charitable activity.”