Josh’s story: I was starting a new chapter of my life, then I found out I had cancer

Launched in 2023 by cancer charities across the UK, TYACAM aims to highlight the experiences of young people with cancer. Among those sharing their story to mark the month is Josh, 24 originally from Leicestershire and now living in London, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2024 at 23 years old.

Josh had just moved to London to start a graduate job at a national newspaper when he noticed a lump on the side of his neck. Josh didn’t have any other symptoms so didn’t think it was anything to worry about but after a while went to see a doctor who thought it was a swollen saliva gland and suggested he get it scanned. He went to urgent care a while later where they thought it might be tonsilitis and put him on antibiotics. When the antibiotics didn’t help, Josh went back to the doctors and this time they did an ultrasound and he was later transferred for a biopsy and PET scan which confirmed he had lymphoma.

Josh received the diagnosis over the phone while he was on his own. His treatment meant having to stop working, which was hard as he had just started to make new friends. He also lost his hair as a result of his treatment. Josh’s social workers Jeremy and Olivia supported Josh throughout his treatment. They helped him with a grant to go towards costs like travel and he also helped him to meet other young people with cancer through peer support groups.

“I’m 24 years old.  I’m from Leicestershire but I moved to London at the start of 2024 for work.

“I finished my master’s in journalism in September 2023 and got a place on the Daily Mail graduate scheme. I did one month of training in London, then a few months at the Scottish Daily Mail in Glasgow before moving to London permanently to work in the newspaper’s office at the start of 2024. It’s my first job ever. I’ve done a lot of extra-curricular stuff over the years but I’ve never had a part- time job.

“It was a new chapter of my life, everything was quite new and it was all quite exciting and scary.”

“The diagnosis came at a very frustrating time because I felt as though I was building momentum in this new life and then I had to put that all on pause. However, on the flip side, my employer has been very supportive. I’ve retained the job and I’m on full pay, on sick leave. It’s nice to have a job to go back to now that the treatment is over.

“The main thing that I noticed was there was a lump on my neck on the right-hand side. It wasn’t particularly visible – you could only have seen it if you really looked for it. If you ran your hand along my neck, you could definitely feel a lump there. I don’t feel as though it came on gradually. One day I just noticed it and it was quite big. I didn’t think that it was related to cancer at the start however I know people who have been through cancer and I’m very aware that one of the things that is always said about cancer is if you have a lump somewhere you should always get it checked out, so when I felt it, I thought ‘I’m going to monitor this’. That was around probably mid-February. I didn’t have any other significant symptoms.”

Later on, when Josh went to the doctors’ they would always ask if he was tired, or had fevers or night sweats. He always said ‘nothing noticeable’ because he thought he was feeling tired because he was working hard.

“The first person I saw about the lump was a GP who I saw through work. He initially thought it may have been a swollen saliva gland but he also said ‘it probably isn’t anything worse but you should get someone to do a scan on it’. He told me to get an appointment with an NHS GP but I wasn’t able to, so I went to the urgent care centre at Guy’s hospital. I also had a bit of a sore throat at this stage, which I didn’t particularly think was related.

“In late February I saw a GP who looked at my lump and also discovered that my tonsils had really swollen up. They thought I had bad tonsilitis and the lump was a swollen lymph node to fight the tonsilitis infection. I got a ten-day course of antibiotics and they told me ‘If it doesn’t go away then go to your GP’. I took the antibiotics for ten days and it didn’t go away. So I went to my GP in early March, he looked at my tonsils and lump, I told them everything that had happened so far and he straight away referred me to Guy’s Hospital to get an ultrasound. I did the ultrasound a couple of weeks later which got sent back to my GP who referred me to the haematology department. I had my bloods done, I had a PET scan, I had a biopsy and then an ultrasound guided biopsy and the combination of all these results was that within a few weeks, I was diagnosed with stage two lymphoma.

“I was still at work the whole time. I was slightly lucky because my shift pattern was mostly working evenings and most of these appointments were during the day so I was pretty much able to not miss much work.

“When I got the diagnosis, I was on my own, it was actually done over the phone which I wasn’t expecting. I’m glad they did tell me then rather than waiting until I had an in-person appointment because if you do have cancer, you want to know as soon as possible. The doctor gave me the diagnosis but they were quick to say that because it was only stage two, it was caught early so they were looking to cure it completely and they had 99% confidence I would go into remission.”

Josh was afraid to tell his family as he didn’t know how they would react.

“I knew they would be very supportive of me but I knew they would be upset. I don’t like to upset people so it was a bit scary to have to tell people the news.”

“Initially when I heard the diagnosis I assumed I would have to be operated on but they said they it would just hopefully be chemotherapy. The plan was to do chemotherapy and then do a PET scan after two cycles of and if that wasn’t working to add in some radiotherapy. So I did four cycles of chemo and then two further cycles of a reduced chemotherapy with just one of the drugs. Six cycles in total.

“I had fatigue and brain fog which progressively got worse. It made everyday tasks quite challenging and I lacked motivation to do things. I was lucky in the sense that I only had mild sickness on the days of the treatment and the following day.

“I did lose my hair which was a bit depressing. By the end of the first cycle I noticed it had started coming out so I shaved my head. I could still keep track of it falling out but it wasn’t like massive strands of hair coming out in the shower, it was just little needles. After a few weeks, it had pretty much all come out and I was completely bald. I’ve always liked my hair so it wasn’t easy but a lot of people told me I looked quite good bald, which was a relief. I wore hats some but not all of the time.

“In terms of my new life in London, because I’m doing a graduate scheme there’s a few other people who are my contemporaries. One negative impact is that it’s put me out of sync with them. I’ve felt a bit left behind. I suppose I just feel a bit separated from everything.

“With the first few treatments I had, I would go back home and my family would look after me. Being at home is great but it’s perhaps stunted my ability to feel and act independently, because I’ve been at home so much more, I’ve been more reliant on family and stuff.

I had a CT scan recently so I should find out then whether or not I’m in remission.”

Josh has remained in close contact with people from work, including his boss, and is working on a plan to return once he’s officially in remission.

“I’m feeling a lot better, a lot stronger and a lot more mentally sharp than I was during the treatment. I’m also seeing people from the hospital regularly. I feel very well looked after. It’s all coming together nicely so I can feel like I’ve been safely delivered on the other side of the whole experience.”

“The first contact I had with Young Lives vs Cancer was between my diagnosis and the start of my treatment. Jeremy explained to me everything that Young Lives vs Cancer do and all the support they offered. I was assigned a support worker, called Olivia.

“I wasn’t in serious financial difficulties but the £100 that gets given to every young person is a nice thing to have. It helped me sort out my travel costs for getting to hospital and back. There was one less thing to think about which was really useful.”

“It was nice to know there was someone to talk to if I had any issues and it was also nice to have someone checking up on you who understood what you were going through. She would ask the right questions and if I needed to know anything I was confident she would either be able to tell me or be able to find out the answer.

“Without Young Lives vs Cancer I would have been more uncertain and I probably would have been more anxious.”

“Charities like Young lives vs Cancer, by doing peer support events, create a community of young people who understand each other and understand each other’s experiences. I think just being connected at a time when you’re cut off socially, is something really valuable. Without stuff like that I would have also worried more and felt less normal, less like a socially functioning person. “