{"id":789,"date":"2025-04-01T09:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T09:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/789\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T09:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T09:16:17","slug":"kentonline-reporter-megan-carr-shares-how-unexpected-thyroid-cancer-diagnosis-changed-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/789\/","title":{"rendered":"KentOnline reporter Megan Carr shares how unexpected thyroid cancer diagnosis changed her life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Warning: This article contains images of post-surgical procedures some readers might find upsetting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, cancer is a word we hear often – whether it\u2019s as a heartbreaking plot twist in films, fundraising memorial news articles, or in hushed conversations that many are too uncomfortable to voice.<\/p>\n

We sympathise, donate to charities, and share our condolences, but we never really believe it will happen to us.<\/p>\n

\"MeganMegan Carr after her second surgery at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford<\/p>\n

Until it does.<\/p>\n

It may sound clich\u00e9d, but for me, cancer truly was a shock. I was, by all accounts, fit and healthy when I discovered my tumor. Aside from being prone to the cold and occasionally feeling tired, I had no signs or symptoms. But it was my treatment that left me frail and unwell.<\/p>\n

The disease has taken one of my vital organs, leaving me reliant on medication for life, and it completely flipped my world upside down in a matter of months – just as my career was gaining momentum.<\/p>\n

I joined the KM Media Group fresh out of school in 2019 as an 18-year-old apprentice with the Gravesend, Dartford, and Medway Messengers.<\/p>\n

Over the next five years, I worked tirelessly, studied, and worked my way up to becoming an award-winning senior reporter covering the Sheerness Times Guardian and Sittingbourne News. By July 2024, I was stepping into a new chapter – my first managerial role – on secondment in the Highlands, helping as an editor in one of our sister company’s Scottish newsrooms.<\/p>\n

\"MeganMegan Carr on holiday in Malta just days before her first surgery<\/p>\n

I was eager to embrace the challenge and prove myself in this exciting new environment.<\/p>\n

But then, while on holiday that same month, everything changed. After a swim in the sea, my dad noticed a lump on the left side of my neck.<\/p>\n

Initially, I thought it was just a reaction to the saltwater, but the lump was unusually large and hadn\u2019t gone away after two weeks. A visit to the urgent treatment center led to a diagnosis of a goiter – an enlarged thyroid gland.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never given much thought to my thyroid, a small yet vital gland that regulates metabolism, heart rate, and body temperature, but suddenly, it was all I could think about.<\/p>\n

My GP at Newton Place Surgery in Faversham referred me for an ultrasound, which raised concerns and led to a biopsy – a painful procedure I will never forget.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe lump on Megan Carr’s throat was papillary thyroid cancer<\/p>\n

Looking back, I can\u2019t believe I didn\u2019t notice the lump sooner. Hindsight is a powerful thing, and now, when I look at photos from 2024, I\u2019m almost certain it had been slowly growing since late 2023.<\/p>\n

By late September, my results were in. While they didn\u2019t confirm cancer outright, the signs were far from reassuring.<\/p>\n

The lump had grown to nearly 5cm, and the doctors determined that the best course of action was to remove the left side of my thyroid.<\/p>\n

At this point, I still felt remarkably well. Just the day before my surgery, I returned from a holiday in Malta with a friend, where I had been scuba diving and enjoying every moment to the fullest.<\/p>\n

On October 17, 2024, I underwent a hemithyroidectomy at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I cannot give enough praise to the care I received. I saw the NHS at its very best, and I\u2019m incredibly grateful that it took only four months from discovering the lump to starting my treatment – something I know not everyone is fortunate enough to experience.<\/p>\n

After two weeks of recovery, I returned to work, unaware that my life was about to change forever.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d healed well and experienced no side effects. However, at a follow-up appointment on November 7, just a month before my 24th birthday, I was told that the biopsy taken during my surgery had revealed I had a papillary thyroid carcinoma, a rare cancer in the UK.<\/p>\n

At first, I struggled to process the diagnosis. I have no family history of cancer, and I hadn\u2019t been exposed to any radiation.<\/p>\n

\"MeganMegan Carr scuba diving in Malta while she had cancer just three days before her first surgery<\/p>\n

My blood tests were normal, and if I hadn\u2019t noticed the lump, I would have never known I had cancer. I didn\u2019t look or feel the way cancer patients are depicted in the media. But I learned cancer doesn\u2019t always fit those images.<\/p>\n

I was scheduled for a thyroidectomy completion on December 5, just a day after my birthday. While the surgery was successful, it changed my life in ways I never expected.<\/p>\n

The scar tissue from my initial surgery made the second one more complicated.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I was left with vocal cord paralysis, which made breathing and swallowing difficult. Some of my parathyroid glands – small glands near the thyroid – were either removed or damaged, disrupting my body\u2019s ability to regulate calcium.<\/p>\n

This led to muscle pain, weakness, and spasms, which made even walking a struggle.<\/p>\n

\"JustJust some of the medication Megan Carr has to take every day<\/p>\n

By January, I was taking almost 20 pills a day to manage my health. The muscle weakness and calcium deficiency left me in constant pain, making even the simplest tasks exhausting. The most difficult thing to accept was that I had actually felt healthier when the tumour was still inside me.<\/p>\n

Losing my thyroid had a profound impact on my body. In just a matter of days, I gained two stone, my hair began to fall out, and what was left felt like straw, despite trying every product imaginable. I know this may seem superficial, but it was incredibly difficult to cope with, especially as a woman in my 20s.<\/p>\n

I was constantly cold, no matter how many layers I wore. I was always tired, in a way that\u2019s hard to explain. It wasn\u2019t just usual exhaustion but a deep, overwhelming tiredness. I couldn\u2019t even manage a simple trip to the supermarket without needing hours of sleep to recover afterward.<\/p>\n

And all of these side effects were before I\u2019d even started my cancer treatment. Thyroid cancer isn\u2019t treated with chemotherapy but with radioactive iodine, a treatment that destroys any remaining thyroid cells following surgery.<\/p>\n

Before treatment, I had to follow a strict low-iodine diet for two weeks, avoiding iodised salt, dairy, egg, seafood, and many other foods.<\/p>\n

\"MeganMegan Carr at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford after her second surgery<\/p>\n

On March 3, I took a radioactive iodine pill given to me by nuclear scientists at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham. Because I became radioactive, I had to isolate in a special hospital room in The Macmillan cancer care unit for four days, with no contact with anyone.<\/p>\n

My phone, laptop, and Kindle were covered in a special plastic to prevent radiation contamination, and anything else I touched, like my clothes and toiletries, had to be destroyed or left behind.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t allowed home until I\u2019d been given the all-clear with a Geiger counter – yes, the same thing you\u2019d use if you decided to visit Chernobyl. Even my blood samples have to be locked away until the radiation decays.<\/p>\n

The side effects include nausea, neck tenderness, dry mouth and eyes, and changes in taste. There\u2019s also a slightly increased risk of developing a second cancer in the future, and uncertainty about how the treatment may affect fertility.<\/p>\n

Because I\u2019m only 24, I was offered the option of freezing my eggs, but the process is painful and lengthy, and at the time, I didn\u2019t feel well enough to go through it.<\/p>\n

\"MeganMegan Carr’s laptop and Kindle had to be wrapped in a special plastic while she was radioactive<\/p>\n

Though I\u2019m still awaiting results of how well the radioactive iodine worked, papillary thyroid carcinoma has an excellent survival rate. This brings me both comfort and guilt as I know it\u2019s a result many others with cancer may not hear. However, recurrence remains a concern.<\/p>\n

Despite the favorable survival rate, I will always require medication and ongoing cancer surveillance. While I\u2019m getting stronger, my life will forever involve managing my condition with medication.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve returned to work, where my colleagues and managers have been incredibly supportive, and I\u2019ve even started exercising again. However, I\u2019ve already noticed a shift in how people treat me.<\/p>\n

From now on, whenever I sign up for new activities or hobbies, simply mentioning thyroid cancer on my medical form will seemingly put organisers off. My travel insurance has become more complicated, and society often treats me as though I\u2019m fragile, like I could break at any moment.<\/p>\n

More than anything, I wish I could return to how things were before. But now, I must accept that the chronic illness left by cancer is a part of me, and I can\u2019t let it define me.<\/p>\n

\"MeganMegan Carr had to have a drain in her neck following her surgeries<\/p>\n

I\u2019m deeply grateful to the Teenage Cancer Trust, which supports cancer patients aged 13 to 24, and to my cancer nurse for her unwavering care.<\/p>\n

My family, partner, and friends have been incredible, as have the doctors and staff at the various hospitals who\u2019ve guided me through this journey.<\/p>\n

Support from Macmillan and Young Lives vs Cancer has also been invaluable. But above all, the biggest help has come from the other cancer patients I\u2019ve connected with.<\/p>\n

No one\u2019s cancer experience is the same, but one thing I\u2019ve picked up on is that we don\u2019t always want to be seen as symbols of strength or inspiration or placed on a pedestal. We just want you to understand that this is the hand we\u2019ve been dealt, and we have no choice but to play it.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, we don\u2019t need kind words or gentle treatment – we just need people to acknowledge how tough it is and let us tell you we\u2019re not \u2018fine.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"MeganMegan Carr’s neck a week after her second surgery<\/p>\n

You can find out more about Thyroid Cancer on the Cancer Research website <\/a>or through the NHS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve read this far, the most important thing I want to leave you with is this.<\/p>\n

Please get checked if you notice anything wrong. You know your body better than anyone, and if something feels \u2018off,\u2019 or if you notice a new lump, bump, or even just feel different mentally, book a GP appointment. It could save your life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: This article contains images of post-surgical procedures some readers might find upsetting Unfortunately, cancer is a word…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[605,606,608,105,609,607,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-ashford","9":"tag-canterbury","10":"tag-faversham","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-medway","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114261955911317158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}