Limerick woman's honest account of living her 20s with blood cancer
FOR MANY, being a young adult comes with its own stressors: balancing college exams with part-time work and the pressure to excel in life.
Twenty-year-old TUS student Alannah Russell had all of these worries plus one more - she had now been diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
Now 21, the Foynes native shared her raw and candid story with the Limerick Leader. She did so in a restaurant which felt familiar to her, The Foynes Inn where she previously spent many hours working. With her grandmother and aunt behind the bar, Alannah took a sip of her cappuccino and began to recount the toughest year of her life.
In Ireland, about 150 people are diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma every year, most often occurring in young people aged 15 to 30, and over 65s.
Alannah is almost right in the middle of the earlier age category, and never expected to receive her diagnosis.
“It all began with a pain in my armpit, which I thought was weird because I obviously didn’t hit my armpit off anything,” she explained.
After being asked by family to go to A&E, she was adamant there was no need. “I just put it down to carrying a heavy college bag, and I worked in a bar so I thought I just pulled a muscle pulling a barrel. I thought it would go away.”
Collectively, she is one of 27 grandchildren, with no history of Hodgkin's lymphoma on either side. Because of this, she also put her symptoms down to college stress and believed they were easy to explain away. Deteriorating day by day, her grandmother brought her to the GP and demanded: “Send her to the hospital now.”
At St John’s Hospital, the business and event management student underwent tests of all types; urine, blood and even bone marrow. Red flags immediately went up for the doctors and they ordered a CT scan after suspecting either Hodgkin's Lymphoma or leukaemia. Candidly she admitted, “I hadn’t a clue what either were.” The ultimate question ran through her mind: ”Am I going to die?”
Receiving a cancer diagnosis is unimaginable until it happens, and for Alannah, she found it hard to process why she was now going to be affiliated with one of the worst words in the English language, for the rest of her life. “I am the last person I ever thought would get cancer.”
Guilt often surrounds a diagnosis of any kind, and Alannah was no different. “I was a student,” she reasoned. “I went out quite a bit, socialising, and had been smoking for only two years. It's a terrible habit, there’s no denying, but I am just like every other student in the country - why do I have this and nobody else does?
“Am I supposed to live my life thinking I am unlovable just because I have this?” she wondered. “Am I ever going to experience getting engaged, or having a baby?” she asked herself before yet another unimaginable journey for a 20-year-old - IVF.
“Chemo does affect your fertility,” she said, “but I didn't want to do it (IVF) because I was so sick at the time I could barely even walk to the toilet.” After being convinced, she travelled to Dublin to undergo what she believed was her “first step to getting better.”
Unfortunately, another blow soon came for the young woman as, after undergoing the process, they were unable to harvest her eggs. Alternative medication was prescribed to protect her ovaries from the effects of chemo, as she would not have another chance to undergo IVF before she soon became the youngest person on the chemo ward.
Discussing treatment, Alannah paused for a moment before stating, “it was heartbreaking on the dayward, because I never thought I would be sitting here with these people receiving treatment.
“I mean, 20-years-old and getting cancer?”
With life seemingly screeching to a halt before her very eyes, she did her best to keep the bright side out and maintain a normal life by keeping up friendships, even on her low days. After benefitting from people sharing their own stories, very similar to her own, she decided that she wanted to speak out about her journey, to try and educate others who might be in the same situation.
Showing a scar stretching across her collar she urges readers to always err on the side of caution. “If I had caught it sooner, would I have had bone marrow tested, or even been on such intense chemo? That was a lump under my armpit, but it was too far in for me to feel it, before it eventually got infected. The week I went to the hospital a lump popped up here,” she said, tracing the lesion. Luckily, Alannah had a medical card to aid her financial burdens, but added, “I would pay €50 over and over if it meant I could have came back okay, so go get checked.”
Looking to the future, Alannah continues to live a life full of study and fun, heading off to concerts and celebrating turning 21 with loved ones. Dreaming of remission, travel and her dream job, she now advocates for health, and no longer puts off until tomorrow what can be cared for today. After finishing chemo only weeks ago, Alannah is now looking forward to her next scan, which will give her answers on whether she is cancer free. With fingers and toes crossed, Alannah says “I don't want any regrets.”