‘I has weird pain when I drank wine – it was giving me a deadly cancer warning’

A mum of two is urging others to get their symptoms checked after her strange experiences were the warning sign of a deadly cancer. The 28-year-old began to feel pain when she drank wine, and had incredibly itchy skin, but at her post-natal check-up at the GP, Hollie Thursby was told it was “down to hormones”.

Only when she found a lump in her neck did she go back to the GP for a second appointment, which confirmed her devastating diagnosis. A CT scan revealed a cluster of lymph nodes, caused by stage two Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare cancer that affects the white blood cells, which help you fight off infections.

According to Cancer Research UK’s most recent statistics, it accounted for just 1% of all new cancer cases in the UK, with around 920 females and 1,300 males diagnosed every year.

Now, the mum-of-two is undergoing chemotherapy, and urging others to get their symptoms checked so they can receive early treatment. 

Recalling what happened, Hollie said prosecco would “sometimes hurt” and lager wasn’t an issue, but wine would “really, really hurt”. She would get pain down her neck and behind her ear on the left side, which is where the lump was.

She explained that at her six-to eight-week check-up after having her second baby, she complained of having “really, really itchy skin”.

Hollie added: “My legs were unbearable itchy, on a nighttime particularly. They just said that it was probably down to hormones, I listened to what the GP said and obviously didn’t think anything else of it.

“I’d been shattered for a long time. [I felt] painfully tired but I had two babies under two so I just put that down to being a busy mum and having a newborn and a toddler.”

She said she was “unbearably tired” and would need to nap during the day, which was “not particularly normal”. Once she found the lump, she booked a return appointment.

Hollie said her blood cancer doctor had only seen a case like hers once more in her 17-year career. She said the doctors explained that wine’s high acidity levels, compared to different types of alcohol, were probably linked to the pain.

According to the NHS, symptoms of Hodgkin lymphoma include “pain in the glands in your neck, armpit or groin when you drink alcohol”.

It also lists itchy skin, and a painless lump or swelling, usually in your neck, armpit or groin, which is the “most common symptom”. Other symptoms include a high temperature, night sweats, shortness of breath, or sudden weight loss.

Her mum had also been diagnosed with a rare blood illness when Hollie was just a child. She tragically passed away from myelodysplasia when Hollie was just 10.

“I grew up without a mum and it was horrendous, I can’t do that to the boys,” she said.

Now Hollie is going through chemotherapy, which is “horrendous”, and what’s impacting her the most is not being able to look after her boys. “I’m worried that I’m dying and that I’m going to leave them. I can’t leave them without a mammy.”

According to the NHS, Hodgkin lymphoma mainly affects young people, or those who are aged 75 and over. Between 2021 and 2023, Hodgkin lymphoma claimed the lives of 320 people in the UK.