Advertisement
In November 2011, when Lydia Haynes was just 16 years old, she noticed a lump on her neck, about the size of a golf ball. Being a singer, constantly surrounded by people who were experiencing swollen glands due to overuse, Haynes wasn’t overly concerned.
She deliberated whether she wanted to see a doctor, but didn’t want people to think she was making a big “fuss over nothing and that people would think I was doing it for attention or that I was lying.”
Over time, however, the lump never disappeared, so Haynes finally went to a doctor. For two months, her doctors reassured her that the lump was nothing serious.
But Haynes kept worrying.
Her doctors finally agreed to run a biopsy test on the lump – only to discover that it was a tumor. Haynes had developed thyroid cancer, and treatment – surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy – could leave her without a voice for the rest of her life.
Haynes admitted, “I never once thought it would be cancer, it just didn’t seem possible. I was 16 years old, a young healthy person and thought it all would be fine.”
She was stunned and could barely even consider the prospect of never singing – or speaking – for the rest of her life, but she “didn’t have a choice – it was have the treatment and risk losing [her] voice or death.”
Just a few days after her diagnosis, Haynes underwent surgery to remove the tumor, but the procedure was only partially successful. Much of the tumor still remained in her throat and would require further treatment.
After a second surgery, Haynes’ tumor was finally removed, but these doctors wanted her to also complete radioactive iodine therapy to ensure the cancer cells didn’t come back. The treatment requires patients to swallow a radioactive iodine pill that destroys particular cells in the body.
Haynes was incredibly anxious the first few days after the procedure – the therapy had left her without a voice, and she had no clue if this would be her ultimate fate.
But less than a week later, she regained her voice.
Haynes has now been in remission for four years. She has also completed her music degree at University of Birmingham and even accomplished her dream of singing at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
Haynes’ entire experience with thyroid cancer has now inspired her to share her story and speak with children who are also suffering from cancer. She hopes that she can inspire and instill hope in other cancer patients on their own paths to remission.
