Nieve Mottram thought something ‘wasn’t right’
Nieve Mottram(Image: Supplied)
A woman’s life has been “put on hold” after a “heartbreaking” diagnosis. Nieve Mottram, 20, from Childwall, saw lumps appear on her neck in June of last year.
Nieve’s fears were eased when doctors told her it was something to do with her “white blood cells”, which defend your body against infections and viruses. But from November, a lump appeared under Nieve’s arm too, and by April 1 it had grown. This is when Neive and her mum Heidi Mottram, 54, felt something more worrying was going on.
Nieve told the ECHO: ”I just thought it was a lump because we’d gone in about the ones on my neck, and it was just like, ‘oh, it’s just your white blood cells, we don’t know why they’re doing that.’
“And then the one under my arm appeared, and that’s the one that sent us down this whole journey. By April 1, it had grown dramatically. That’s when we booked an appointment because we thought, that’s not right.”
In May, Nieve was diagnosed with classical Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that develops when white blood cells grow out of control and become abnormal cells called Reed–Sternberg cells.
Around 2,000 people develop classical Hodgkin lymphoma each year in the UK. It can develop at any age, but most people diagnosed are between the ages of 15 and 34, or over 60.
According to Blood Cancer UK and Lymphoma Action, the most common symptom of classical Hodgkin lymphoma is a lump or lumps that don’t go down after a couple of weeks. These are swollen lymph nodes.
They are usually painless and feel rubbery when you touch them. They are most often found in the neck or just above the collar bones but can develop in other parts of your body.
However, Lymphoma Actions states that lymph nodes “can swell for lots of reasons” and “most people with swollen lymph nodes do not have lymphoma”.
Around one in four people with the condition experience other symptoms too, such as fever, weight loss and shortness of breath. This is why Heidi and Nieve were so shocked when they found out what was going on.
Heidi said: ”There are other symptoms like night sweats, dramatic weight loss and shortness of breath. She’d just had a lump. To find out it was a form of blood cancer, it was shocking.”
Nieve’s life has been “put on hold”(Image: Supplied)
Nieve added: “We were under the impression that some people just have lumps for no reason. With this, the lump is really not meant to be there at all.”
Nieve is at stage three. The condition is curable, with doctors saying the abnormal cells are still contained within her lymph nodes.
However, Nieve has had to start chemotherapy and the illness has started to impact her life in other ways. She has had to put her career on hold despite just finishing a makeup studies course.
Nieve has to try to eat as healthily as possible and avoid catching other illnesses as her immunity is currently very low. A GoFundMe page has been set-up to support her and the family during this time.
Nieve said: “I can’t go to my graduation this year, so that was a bit of a bummer. You have to put your whole life on hold, reevaluate and think, where do I go from here?”
Heidi added: “She’s worked so hard over the last two years. She was looking forward to her graduation because eventually, with these studies that she has done, she wants to be in TV and movies, doing prosthetics, makeup and stuff like that.
“Obviously everything’s on hold now for her. She’ll have to have an organic diet. I’ll have to try and get my head around everything. Because her immunity will be low, we’ll have to make sure that everything is very clean. Water, food, everything really.
“We don’t want her to catch anything because she could become really poorly. It’s a lot to get your mind around. But she’s handling it so well. That’s made it a little bit easier for me because as a parent, watching your child go through something that you cannot help them with and protect them from, it’s absolutely heartbreaking.”
You can find out more about the GoFundMe here.