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Woman's shattering diagnosis after being told to cut out coffee to treat her 'anxiety'

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date12 August 2022
Anglee Kumar went to A&E after she started to feel constantly lethargic and began to get heart palpitations in addition to a tightness in her chest but was initially diagnosed with inflammation in her chest

The 26-year-old, who had always had a healthy lifestyle, visited her GP when things didn't get better.

But the aspiring lawyer, who had just secured a job with one of London's top law firms, was told that she could be suffering with anxiety due to her long working hours and was advised to cut back on alcohol and coffee. When that didn't improve her symptoms, her GP suggested it could be coeliac disease.

When Anglee sought a second opinion at a private clinic, she was told there was nothing seriously wrong with her.

She underwent a number of blood tests, breathing tests, an ultrasound and a seven-day electrocardiogram ECG over the next few months but all her results came back normal.

It wasn't until Anglee insisted on having a CT scan -despite doctors' reluctance given her young age -that it was finally determined that she had Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is a cancer that starts in white blood cells called lymphocytes.

In the UK, more than 13,000 people are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma each year, according to the NHS.

Just over a third of cases diagnosed are in people aged over 75 and the most common symptom is a painless swelling in a lymph node, usually in the neck, armpit or groin -none of which applied to Anglee.

She started chemotherapy in November last year and, because of the potential damage to her ovaries, froze her eggs.

The Londoner lost her hair, eyebrows, eyelashes and 10kg in weight as a result of the treatment.

She told MyLondon : "That time was awful. I stopped looking in the mirror because I just looked so scary.

"You look sick, your family looks at you a different way even though they don't mean to. It's just a constant reminder of how sick you are.

"I lost all my confidence. I didn't really leave my bed.

"And it sounds silly but in Asian cultures, if you're a girl, and if you're sick, then everyone hides it because it's seen as a reason you wouldn't be able to get...

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