![]() ![]() “Having treatment makes you feel like you’re going to be sick constantly, and then you always have to have a mask on which just makes it worse! Not only did Marnie have to go into hospital without the support of her friends, family or boyfriend – COVID-19 found a way to make her time in hospital even more uncomfortable. So, it was just chemo through an IV drip.” “They couldn’t operate or do radiation because of the location of my tumours – they were all surrounding my vital organs. Unfortunately, chemotherapy was the only treatment option available to her. Marnie had to have chemotherapy every fortnight, for about six and a half hours per session. Marnie wearing her Cancer Council wig that made her “feel normal again” “Most 18-year-olds love their hair and losing that was a big part of my identity, so being able to have a wig lent to me was amazing.” Then it was sent out to me in the mail in about a week or so,” explained Marnie. “Because of COVID it was all done over the phone and they let me go through the catalogue online and select what I liked best. But when I started to lose my hair it started to sink in a bit – this is my new life.”Īfter Marnie started losing her hair due to chemotherapy, she contacted Cancer Council’s nurses through the 13 11 20 information and support line to ask about the free wig service. “It took me a while to process because I looked healthy and felt fine. They sent me off for some scans and it showed up that I had three tumours throughout my body,” said Marnie. “I had to have my immunisation tested for uni placement, so I went and had a test done which came back a bit abnormal. Marnie (left) pictured with friends before her diagnosis. It was purely by chance that her cancer – already at stage 3 – was discovered. ![]() When Marnie was first diagnosed, it was completely unexpected. “It’s pretty scary because you’re going into hospital not knowing what’s really going on and all by yourself, but I guess that’s how it had to be.” “No one could come in with me – I think mum came to my first treatment and from there I was on my own,” said Marnie. In March, not only did she have to endure the shock of a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis, she had to complete treatment through all the uncertainty and disruption of COVID-19. Then it all came crashing down,” said Marnie. “When I was diagnosed, it was a time in my life when I was just starting to find my feet and discover where I belonged in the world. ![]() At the beginning of the year, she was studying to become a nurse, taking classes with her dance company, and hanging out with friends. Marnie could never have predicted what 2020 had in store for her. ![]()
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