Eilidh’s story: I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 17 after already going through years of treatment for leukaemia

After years of treatment for leukaemia, Eilidh was given the news she also had thyroid cancer at 17 years old. She went on to be monitored for a few years but in late 2023 got the news that she had relapsed. Eilidh had to go into hospital for surgery and radioactive iodine treatment. Now, she is sharing her experience for Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month to raise awareness of the impact cancer can have on young people.

“When I was in intensive care in 2016 (due to a bad reaction from chemotherapy for my leukaemia) I was given a tracheostomy to help speed up the process of removing my ventilator. During this operation, my thyroid was said to be enlarged and so in February 2019, I attended an appointment at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow at the ear, nose, and throat clinic to check what was happening.

“My Mum and I were taken in to see the consultant and his first  words to me were ‘so the Thyroid Cancer…’. I could not believe it. At 17 years old I had not only one but two cancers?! The emotions flooded through me and I just wanted to disappear. I was nearing the end of my leukaemia battle; how could this be happening again? It felt as if I was a dice roll away to getting to the finish line but now I was back to square one, having to do it all again. Thankfully, the treatment was not as bad as I had anticipated. I completed my leukaemia treatment and I went into hospital to have both my thyroid and the thyroid cancer removed. Knowing my track record, I thought I would end up stuck in hospital for maybe a few months at a push, but I went in on the Wednesday and got home on the Friday. Some might say a miracle, knowing my history of hospital stays.

“For the next 4 years my thyroid cancer team monitored ‘suspicious’ nodes and growths in my neck – since my original thyroid cancer surgery in 2019 –  as there had been a consistent rise in my bloods. On Tuesday 19th December 2023, I met with my thyroid cancer consultant and surgeon in Glasgow. On this day was the big team meeting with all important doctors and medical professionals at it. They were discussing a CT scan of my neck, and I was about to learn their findings. They both confirmed that I had relapsed with my thyroid cancer. In my neck were tumours, both in my nodes on the right side and my thyroid bed on the left side. It physically hurt to know my thyroid cancer was back again, that I had relapsed. Hearing the words relapsed and tumours shattered the world around me, and I was absolutely terrified to be fighting cancer again.

“On Friday 26th January 2024, I underwent surgery at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. The surgery went in where my original scar was, extending up to my ear on the right side, gaining access to all the cancerous tumours, and also inserting a drain.

“After a day or so, I started to feel a little better. Sadly, this was short lived… three days after my surgery I managed to move over to a recliner seat falling in and out sleep most of the day. I was struggling with needing to cough; which was not good for my throat, so I was given some throat spray to ease the irritation. Somehow I managed to spray it and it went down the wrong way, which led to a massive coughing fit. During this I felt my neck blow up, it was as if the skin under my jaw on the right side expanded and someone was pumping it full of air. Instantly I knew something was wrong and started panicking.

“I buzzed for assistance and a nurse came in who I explained what had happened to, but stating deadly serious ‘I need a doctor now.’ After what felt like forever, a nightshift doctor came in and basically took one look at my ballooned neck before telling me to get back into my bed and multiple more nurses appeared with medical equipment and monitors. During my coughing fit I accidently burst a small hole in my windpipe and air started leaking from it.

“I underwent surgery awake, which was pretty traumatising. The doctor numbed my neck area, and then explained he was going to draw back to see what was causing the ballooning. I just happened  to look up to see the biggest needle before squeezing my eyes shut for the foreseeable. The advice given to me was ‘don’t move’. I held Mum’s hand and tears dropped slowly from my eyes as a nurse held my shoulder making sure I made no quick movements. Air drew back into the needle, meaning I did not haemorrhage and out of the two options this was definitely the best outcome! I was patched back together with the finger from a rubber glove tied in the middle, keeping my wound open slightly allowing air to flow out. Somehow my heartrate stayed at a normal level throughout this whole ordeal, but afterwards my adrenaline hit the roof and stayed there for a good few weeks.

“The next day I had the glove finger removed from my neck and was told to press down on my dressing when coughing which would put pressure on the small hole in my windpipe preventing air leakage. On the Monday, my teenage cancer trust youth coordinator  came to the ward to visit me. We spent the full morning talking, and at times I felt a twang in my neck as if air was bubbling to the surface again. My surgeon came to visit me in the afternoon and I showed him how every time I spoke and then pressed the right side of my neck my drain would puff up with the air that was leaking out. To prevent this, I had to apply the same pressure when coughing to when I was speaking also, so I decided to go on mute for a while and not speak to help the hole in my windpipe heal faster.

“The time came for my discharge, and I was able to return back home. The surgery had been tough, much tougher than I expected but I was so proud of how brave I was. I was still on mute and my emotions were high. I got my dressing removed, however this led to the steritrips soaking through with blood and it dripping. I was on edge constantly, fighting tears at every moment and feeling like anything I did could compromise my healing. I was terrified and riddled with anxiety. I left voicemails for my surgeon’s secretary at 3am when my dressings were bleeding through, but my mum decided we would just drive to Glasgow in the morning and see him in person to help me. My body was still healing and we just rushed it slightly. They removed all the steristrips and cleaned up my neck, putting some antibacterial gel on and a new dressing. My surgeon was great with me, he was always the first to tell me ‘it is not your fault’ and make me feel a tad more at ease about the situation. Everyday a nurse would come to my house and clean my neck wound, and every day the bleeding stain got smaller. We went back up to the hospital and I got my two stitches removed. I was healed! The hardest thing for me was actually talking again because I was terrified I would burst open that little hole and something awful would happen. My surgeon insisted it had healed, and he was right.

“The realisation of what I had gone through hit me like a train. My body and soul were tired, and being honest there was not much fight left in me after all these years – I just wanted to rest.

“Then, on Wednesday 10th April 2024, I was admitted into isolation at the Beatson Hospital in Glasgow for my radioactive iodine treatment – the next phase for treating the relapse of my thyroid cancer. The treatment consisted of me swallowing a radioiodine capsule, and then remaining isolated whilst my body had a ‘radioactive glow’.

“It was an odd experience, and actually laughable about how crazy the whole thing was. I felt it was the perfect time to sing and dance around to Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, as the lyrics really resonated with me… ‘oooohhh I’m radioactive, radioactive!!!’. Due to the radiation, everything that came into my room had to be binned, so all my food was on paper plates – however on my first night the nurses forgot and brought me my dinner on a regular plate. I only noticed after I finished my meal and said to the nurses. My two options were to either ‘bin the plate’ or ‘leave it on the floor out of the way’. It felt weird to just bin a plate so I left it on the floor in the middle of my room. This made me laugh every day, as it reminded me of the sims video game, where the characters would eat food and leave their plates on the floor in the most random of places. I told everyone about this plate and still laugh thinking about it.

“On Friday 12th April 2024, I had a neck scan which showed positive signs that the radiation was targeting the thyroid cancer in multiple areas of my neck, and the excess radioactivity in my body was quickly dropping. This meant I was able to come home to my family, who I missed so much during my first stay in hospital on my own.

“Now we wait. Immediately after the surgery, my bloods dropped significantly, which was a really good sign and since treatment things are slowly settling down. Thyroid cancer is a very slow growing cancer, meaning it will take a long period of time of closely monitoring my bloods and scans to know if the cancer has completely gone. I will be a patient for around 10 years, which stings a little knowing that this chapter has not completely ended yet. As of right now though, my team have done all they can to mop up the remaining cells of my thyroid cancer.

“’So, the thyroid cancer…’ came back but I am going to kick cancer’s bum for the third time… third time lucky I guess!”