Lynne's story, Part 1: From Dance floors to Doctors Offices.

Before cancer entered her life, Lynne was the picture of health. A passionate dance teacher, who would spend her days running her business administration, teaching in local schools, for LINKUP and her own school dance sessions some evenings. Fitness was second nature, when she wasn’t dancing / working, you would find her at the local sports centre taking part in fitness classes. She was rarely ill and never visited her GP. 

But then something changed. 

It began with a stomach ache and nausea and then progressed to hot sweats and what Lynne calls “labour like pain.” She initially thought it was food related and began cutting different foods from her diet in the hope of finding relief. Nothing worked. The pain persisted, and soon, Lynne’s diet would consist of little more than Rich Tea biscuits.  

As the weeks went on, her discomfort grew. And so did the frustration. Across a month Lynne made several visits to her GP and even to A&E, but no answers emerged. Blood tests were taken but the GP could find no concerning markers and without the usual symptoms associated with something more serious, no bruising, no fatigue, doctors couldn’t identify a cause. 

But Lynne knew her body. She knew something was wrong. 

Finally, she returned to the GP with her husband by her side. The situation was becoming unmanageable and they needed answers. After another unsuccessful appointment, they decided to get a second opinion at Nuffield Health in Exeter.  

More testing was done, and a few days later, Lynne received news that would change everything. 

“I’m really sorry but it shows you have a form of cancer.” 

A biopsy soon confirmed the presence of a tennis ball size mass pressing on her stomach. Lynne needed to start treatment and decided to start this right away, but had one major worry; was this hereditary? 

After being reassured that it wasn’t, Lynne and her husband, knowing that she needed to have treatment, decided to be open and honest with their children. 

Their daughters, aged 9 and 12 at the time, asked all the usual questions, the hardest being “is mummy going to die?” Lynne answered honestly but positively, which continued over the months to come. 

Lynne’s fight against cancer had begun. 

Click here to read Lynne's story Part 2