Yorkshire woman diagnosed with rare stage four cancer after doctors 'told her it was stress'

Mollie Mulheron, 24, had recently returned from travelling in the Galapagos Islands where she began experiencing symptoms, and she said she had been told by doctors that she was ‘too stressed’ – despite experiencing such difficulty with breathing that she almost drowned while snorkelling.

However, after returning to the UK she collapsed in public and was rushed to hospital – where doctors diagnosed her with a 15cm tumour over her heart and lungs. Mollie has been given a diagnosis of stage four Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

She said: “That was the worst news of my life, I can’t even explain how it felt now. I just cried and screamed and screamed – it was out of nowhere, I knew something was wrong but I didn’t think it was that wrong.

“I’m waiting to hear how much it’s spread. It doesn’t mean I’m going to die tomorrow but it means treatment needs to start now. They've given me an injection to try and preserve my fertility so kids aren't out the question - it's put me in early menopause, it's the worst part for me as I always wanted to be a mum."

Mollie, from Skipton, had travelled to the Galapagos Islands to pursue her dream of travelling. While out there, she worked as an English teacher, but she began to experience strange symptoms, including trouble breathing and swallowing.

She was told there wasn’t enough students for her to teach, so she booked a flight home on February 4 – but within 48 hours of touching down in the UK, she collapsed and began throwing up in a supermarket. An ambulance was called and Mollie was rushed to hospital where she underwent blood tests, and X-ray and CT scans.

She was given the heartbreaking diagnosis and was told the tumour had been affecting her heart – and was told the reason she kept collapsing was because she was repeatedly having heart attacks. Doctors prescribed steroids to stop the tumour from growing any more, and due to the advanced state of the tumour Mollie swiftly began chemotherapy.

She added: “I’ve been fit and healthy my whole life, I’ve always been completely fine – I don’t know what has caused this, I’m healthy and young, three weeks ago I was in Galapagos living my best life.

“I still can’t comprehend it now - [when I was told] I was screaming to my mum about my future plans, how I wanted to be a mum and get married, all I could do was stare at the wall and cry and scream.

“The only sad thing is that it’s stage four which means it’s on both sides of my chest and has spread to other parts of my body. I started chemo and had a bad reaction to the first treatment, but the doctors said it was because they started it too fast, and after that it was okay, I just had a few side effects like headaches.

"The doctors say there are a lot of treatments they can try because I’m young, fit and healthy.”

For more information, you can visit Mollie’s GoFundMe page.