11 December 2023 , 12:22
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A young woman has revealed horror symptoms she first put down to bad hangovers turned out to be cancer.
Poppy Baguely, from New Zealand, saw her normal tolerance to alcohol disappear and she would start vomiting after a few drinks towards the end of 2021. She began to also break out in a rash over her face and chest with the symptoms worsening.
The now 20-year-old went to the doctors believing she had an allergy to alcohol and put her coughing up blood down to using a vape pen. But Poppy claims that her cancer symptoms were not picked up by medics and it was the following year that she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Her symptoms also saw her develop a rash (Jam Press/Poppy Beguely)
Poppy during treatment in hospital (Jam Press/Poppy Beguely)Poppy says that she was hospitalised three times from June to October 2022 and that doctors missed what was really wrong with her, believing she had skin conditions or deep vein thrombosis.
"Prior to falling ill, I would go out with friends a fair bit and I could drink a lot and I would feel fine the next day," she told Newsweek. "Sometimes I would have a little bit of a headache but nothing major.
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She made several visits to see doctors over her condition (Jam Press/Poppy Beguely)
She was eventually found to have stage three Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Jam Press/Poppy Beguely)"Then suddenly I noticed my tolerance was a lot less and my night would end with vomiting every time, even just after three drinks. The following day would be even worse. I would feel extremely unwell. I thought I might be allergic to alcohol. I would break out in a rash all over my face and chest. Then I started spewing up blood and having frequent nose bleeds."
Poppy’s health was getting worse with more rashes and she began to start having hot and cold sweats. She continued: "I was conscious that something was wrong with me for a long time prior to the diagnosis. I had a persistent cough that wouldn't go away. I was very fatigued but for the most time I could do things people my age do but it was a struggle. I also had an extremely sore area on my tummy."
Poppy pictured after finishing chemotherapy (Jam Press/Poppy Beguely)It was a fourth visit to the doctors at the end of 2022 when the doctor told her she had all the symptoms of cancer and then in February this year, a few days before her 20th birthday she was diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin’s lymphoma with tumours found on her chest, neck and spleen. She went through four months of chemotherapy that lasted until May 24 and is now in remission.
"I was distraught before starting therapy," she continued. "I think I was in survival mode for the entire time. I didn't have a lot of emotional capacity to deal with the news. My head went to getting through it. My family supported me massively; I couldn't have got through it without them."