Blood
Four symptoms doctors ‘fobbed off’ before Aussie told of earth-shattering illness
Aug
For 18 months, Briony Benjamin was told her chronic fatigue, itching skin, persistent cough and night sweats were “hormonal”.
Despite going to three different doctors, her symptoms were dismissed.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Aussie shares her journey with blood cancer.
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“I was fobbed off,” Briony tells 7Life, before adding an important message.
“You are the only one who knows your body and if it feels icky. If your GP isn’t listening, find someone who will.”
By the time the 31-year-old finally found her answer, it was devastating – a diagnosis of stage four Hodgkin Lymphoma – a type of blood cancer.
The blood cancer, which affects the immune system, is relatively aggressive – but is also one of the most easily treatable types of the disease.
At first, Briony thought her symptoms might have been from a seafood allergy or a cold that she couldn’t shake.
It wasn’t until her mum lost a close friend to the cancer, that she phoned Briony’s GP and pleaded that her daughter be tested for the disease.
When the results came back positive, Briony’s family was shattered.
“I remember my doctor telling me, ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We should just focus on the next three steps’,” Briony explains.
The first two of those steps involved the kinds of medical testing and screening considered routine for someone with a cancer diagnosis.
The third caught Briony completely off guard.
Fertility.
Motherhood
“I was 31, I was still young – it was something I hadn’t really thought about,” she says.
“I was basically told that all of the treatment would age my ovaries and potentially render me infertile.”
Briony’s lifesaving treatment would likely “wipe out” her path to motherhood.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to become a mum in the future, but knew she would like to have the option to consider it.
So, she began the process of freezing her eggs.
“I had one crack at harvesting my eggs,” she explains.
“They didn’t want to put my body under unnecessary stress – they said the priority is my life.
“From that moment, I knew having a family would be long and really intense.”
For two weeks, Briony injected herself with hormones and various medications to prepare her body for possibly the only shot she might have at becoming a mother.
“It was an odd reprieve before I started chemo,” Briony reveals.
“It was a small bit of light and joy before the main game began.”
The procedure went well.
“I remember them telling me, ‘We are going to freeze these eggs and they will be safely waiting for you on the other side’,” she says.
“There is this sort of … sense of shame surrounding freezing your eggs.
“But I want others in a similar situation to know there is no shame – it’s a great insurance option.”
She gleamed with hope about the potential of future parenthood.
But that small glimmer was quickly overshadowed by the four-and-a-half-month chemotherapy she had to endure.
Treatment
Briony says nothing could have prepared her for the intensity of the treatment.
“I remember the first day I lost my hair – you know, it was the day I started to look like a cancer patient,” she says.
Having always had long blonde locks, she felt like her identity had been stolen, replaced by an unknown face staring back in the mirror.
“I was told that it was okay to sit and cry on the couch all day but after that you’ve got to get back up,” she says.
And that’s exactly what she did.
She began sharing her journey online, revealing the raw truth about living with cancer.
“I just thought for me, when I was first diagnosed, I couldn’t find anyone similar that was going through what I was,” she explains.
“So, I thought it might be nice for others to watch what I went through.”
Posting about the reality of cancer, Briony braved the internet and shared videos and images, including of her baldness.
Soon, thousands of people were showing their support.
“I don’t know, but it (cancer) almost made me feel fearless,” she confesses.
“Like, ‘Oh well, I could have died so I’m going to post this’.”
After three months of arduous treatment, Briony was feeling rundown and unwell.
So she was stunned when she learnt she was in remission.
“I was in total shock – my scan was clear,” she smiles.
She couldn’t believe she could stop treatment six weeks early and counts herself “very lucky”.
“When you are in the depths of treatment it is so hard to see the light,” she reveals.
“Life can be a hard slog sometimes, but you have to push forward.”
Expecting a baby
For the next few years, Briony continued to share her cancer journey online and helped support others along the way.
She wrote of her constant check-ups, hopeful each doctor’s visit would continue to confirm the cancer had not returned.
Five years later, she reported incredible news.
“In cancer-land five years means no more check-ups,” she beams.
And more unexpected happiness was on the horizon.
“A few weeks later I was at home eating eggs for breakfast and suddenly I had this gag reflex,” she describes.
With the encouragement of her partner Byron, Briony took an at-home pregnancy test.
“I came out and was like, ‘What do you think?’,” she says.
“And he just said, ‘You’re pregnant as.”
Falling pregnant without the need to use her frozen eggs underscored to Briony the strength and resilience of the human body.
“It is such an amazing thing,” she says.
“I was told once that your body wants to heal and it is doing everything it can.”
The happy couple is expecting a little boy next month.
Blood cancer awareness
Briony is now an ambassador for Leukaemia Foundation and is passionate about raising awareness for the signs and symptoms of blood cancer.
“There are no screenings for this cancer,” she says.
Benjamin urges if you have any of the following symptoms to seek medical attention:
- Persistent tiredness
- Dizziness
- Anaemia
- Frequent or repeated infections
- Increased or unexplained bleeding or bruising
- Bone pain
- Kidney damage
- High calcium level in the blood.
Briony has recently published a journal about her cancer journey titled Life is Tough But So Are You.
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