A number of people who have been diagnosed with severe illnesses such as cancer have opened up about their regrets regarding their failure to listen to their bodies and pay attention to the subtle signs.
The truth is that many of the symptoms of different types of cancer may be shared with other more common and less serious illnesses, so people tend to dismiss them. They only start paying attention to the changes in their body when the disease reaches certain stage.
Marly Garnreiter is one of those people who did not listen to the signs her body was warning her about. When she decided to visit a doctor, she was told that she was feeling unwell due to stress and failed to diagnose her properly.
She later learned she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Another person whose life story is similar to that of Garnreiter is Dilan Patel, a man who avoided visiting the doctor because he was “embarrassed” of one of the common symptoms – night sweats.
“I’d wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat,” he said in a TikTok video.
“I mean SOAKED. My clothes, my bed – everything would be wet. It happened 2-3 times every single night. At first, I just thought, ‘Maybe I’m getting too hot under the covers?’ So I brushed it off.
“Weeks turned into months, and the night sweats didn’t stop. Looking back now, there were other signs, too. I was exhausted all the time, but I just thought it was because I was working long hours.”
Also, his skin felt dry and itchy all the time, forcing him to carry a moisturizer with him all the time.
“I had really itchy skin,” Dilan recalled. “I remember my legs especially used to itch really bad until the point where I’d scratch them until they bled.”
He continued: “I used to carry a little tub of body lotion around with me. I just thought I was getting dry skin because of the weather changes.”
However, Dilan didn’t ask for medical advice until he felt a lump in his armpit.
After running a number of tests, Dilan was told he had stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“Five tumours. It had even spread to my lung. I couldn’t believe it. I’d spent so long brushing off my symptoms, convincing myself they weren’t a big deal”, he shared.
“But my body had been screaming at me for almost two years. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience, it’s to pay attention to your body.
“Those little signs and symptoms? They’re there for a reason. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”
After undergoing severe treatments, including rounds of chemotherapy, he’s now cancer-free for nine years.
According to NHS, “Hodgkin lymphoma is an uncommon cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, which is a network of vessels and glands spread throughout your body.”
It mostly affects people aged 20 to 40, as well as those older than 75. In the UK only, the number of people diagnosed with this form of cancer is 2,100 each year.
If diagnosed on time, it can be successfully treated.
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