01/6Cancer sign in shoulder
A teenager thought he pulled a muscle while weight lifting in the gym. However, doctors found that it was actually cancer.
Back in June, two days after working out in the gym, Tomas Evans, 18, from Wrexham, Wales, woke up to a painful fist-sized lump on his shoulder.
02/6More about the symptoms
Talking about his symptoms, Tomas told Kennedy News, "I thought that lump was just a gym injury. I went to the gym and two days later woke up with a big lump on my shoulder and it was causing me really bad pain."
Describing the lump, he explained, "The lump was quite big and about the size of an apple. I thought it had just been a muscle that had come out of place or something and it wasn't, it was to do with the lymphoma."
03/6Hodgkin Lymphoma diagnosis
After visiting his general practitioner, for what he thought was an injury, Tomas was referred for various scans, x-rays and a biopsy. The following month, he was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin Lymphoma.
This uncommon cancer mostly affects people in the ages between 20 to 40. It develops in the body's lymphatic system, which is a network of vessels and glands throughout the body.
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04/6Mom shares their emotional turmoil
Rachael Tudor, Tomas' mom, talked about the anxiety associated with her child's cancer diagnosis.
She said, "We came home and cried for the whole two weeks waiting on the test results. It was the most horrendous two weeks of our lives as the crippling anxiety of what on earth we were facing was awful."
"When we got the diagnosis it was cancer and Hodgkin Lymphoma I knew I had to stay strong to get him and the family through this," she added.
05/6Treatment
Tomas started chemotherapy in September. Thankfully, halfway through his treatment, he received the good news that his scans are all clear. Tomas will finish his chemo course in February 2023.
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06/6Difficulties in the process
The diagnosis gravely impacted the teen's life. He shared, "I had to take a year out of college and stop work and being able to go out places is a lot more difficult now because I'm at a high risk of infections."
"I get tired quite easily walking around places and just doing normal things, especially closer to when I've had the treatment as well," he said.
His mom added, "Obviously treatment is challenging and Tomas has ended up in hospital a few times poorly with neutropenic sepsis and the worry of him catching infections has been our primary concern this time of year."
Appreciating her child's strength, she said, "But thankfully he's on track and doing well. We are so proud of him and how he's coped."
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