AFTER suffering a fever and losing her voice, mum-of-four Kirsty Lawson thought she was the victim of a nasty winter virus.

But when a lump the size of an egg appeared on her neck, she booked an appointment with her GP – just to be safe.

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Tests revealed the 53-year-old had mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a rare type of blood cancer.

She had to undergo six rounds of “hellish” chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant to blast it into remission.

“I’ve always been quite healthy; I eat well and I exercise,” explains the mum, from Wandsworth, South London. 

“But in 2018, I started feeling really tired and rundown all the time. 

“I kept on losing my voice. I thought it was just a virus but then I discovered a lump about the size of an egg on the side of my neck, so I thought I’d better get it checked out.”

Kirsty was sent for scans, but still medics thought she had a virus. 

She returned to her GP six weeks later when her voice hadn’t come back and she was suffering a fever.

“It was probably 10 weeks by this time that I had no voice,” Kirsty recalls. 

“When I went back to the GP he couldn’t get me an appointment with a specialist for months so he sent me to A&E as I’d be seen sooner.

“The hospital did further tests and arranged an appointment for me to see a specialist ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon. 

“By the time that appointment came round it was about 12 weeks and I still had no voice.

“When I got there, he said it was probably just a virus and couldn’t understand why I’d been referred.

“But when he took a look down my throat, he made some noises and I could see he wasn’t happy. 

“He took a fine needle biopsy and ultrasound and asked if I had swollen lymph nodes anywhere else.

“I did, in my armpit and my groin.”

Kirsty was later diagnosed with stage three MCL. 

It happens when white blood cells called lymphocytes grow out of control and travel around the body. 

It affects immunity and, as well as painful swellings in the neck, groin and armpit, it can also cause heavy sweating, weight loss and a fever. 

It’s rare, only affecting around 600 Brits a year.

I felt like I was letting the children down as it was my job to look after them

Kirsty Lawson

“I was shocked,” Kirsty says. 

“I had gone to Dr Google and looked up my symptoms and lymphoma came up, but I still wasn’t expecting them to say that’s what it was. 

“One of my first worries was, ‘Will I lose my hair?’ At that stage my hair was very long and when he said ‘yes’, I got very upset. 

“I think for women, hair makes you feel feminine. Without it you can feel a bit sexless.

“My four children Jessica, 29, Michaela, 25, Joshua, 24 and Matthew, 22, were all teenagers at the time too.

“They worried, thinking I would die. I was the mainstay in their lives, the breadwinner. I couldn’t do much to reassure them. 

“All I could say was that the treatment was happening to try and prevent that.”

Uncertain future

Kirsty had surgery in Australia, where she was working as a medical consultant, to remove the swollen lymph nodes, as well as chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

Lymphoma is incurable but it can be put into remission, and fortunately, after treatment, that’s what happened to Kirsty. 

There are still no signs of active cancer and she goes back for six monthly check-ups to make sure the cancer doesn’t return.

“There is no guarantee how long remission will last,” she says. 

“It could be six weeks, six months or six years. There is no set time frame. 

“I’ve tried to reassure the kids as best as I can. For children of their age, they did have to grow up quickly. They had to step up.

“There were days I was so poorly I just couldn’t do things for them. I felt like I was letting the children down as it was my job to look after them.

“I did lose my hair. I think by the time it happened I had come to terms with it. 

“I ordered a wig and as I continued working part-time, I put that on every time I had a meeting. Fortunately, I came out the other side.”

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Kirsty and her family moved back to the UK when her treatment came to an end and she knew she wanted to do something to help people with cancer.

Through her job, she saw a device on LinkedIn that could be used easily at home to detect breast cancer cells at an early stage.

She has since set up a company to launch the device, called the Luminous Pro Series UK, in Britain.

“The type of cancer I had is very difficult to see,” she says. “But breast cancer is different. 

“Women can use this machine themselves at home. Men can use it too, as they get breast cancer sometimes. 

“When I saw this device I knew there was nothing else out there like it.

“It gives women the power to check their breasts at home. 

“It’s not meant to replace a mammogram. It’s an extra to your self examination. 

“You can see inside your breast to see what is normal for you. Not everything you see is cancer. It might pick up benign cysts. 

“But if you spot something, you can send this information to your GP and get checked out.”

I will always have to live with the worry that my cancer will come back

Kirsty Lawson

The £235 handheld Luminous Pro Series uses red light technology to illuminate the tissue inside the breast and any abnormalities will appear darker or as shadowy areas.

Kirsty and her two daughters, aged 29 and 25, use it once a month, as does Kirsty’s husband Rob, 54, an anaesthetic practitioner.

“Bringing this to the UK brought me something to focus on when I was at the depths of my treatment,” Kirsty says. 

“It can help women detect cancer early and that has always been the driving force for me.

“My cancer is in remission now, my hair has grown back. 

“I’m hopeful that future scans will remain clear. Of course, we always have to live with the worry that it will come.

“But whatever the future holds, at least I know I’ve done something to help others with cancer.

“Hopefully they won’t have to go through the gruelling treatment I did and can catch and treat it early, then move on with their lives.”

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A clinical trial carried out by the University of Toronto and the National University of Caaguazu found the device was better at detecting breast abnormalities than a mammogram.

Often considered the gold standard for screening, the mammogram has an estimated sensitivity of 86.9 per cent and a specificity of 88.9 per cent.

In these trials, the Luminous Pro Series had a sensitivity of 89.6 per cent and a specificity of 96.4 for detecting breast abnormalities.

But it’s still vital to attend your mammogram screenings.

Figures show that over four in 10 women invited for their first breast check don’t take up the invitation.

In 2023, there were 18,942 tumours detected out of 1.93million women screened for breast cancer, but a further 1.05m women who were invited did not attend.

The one per cent detection rate means there were potentially 10,000 missed cases.

Women registered with a GP are automatically invited for NHS breast screening between the ages of 50 and 53, then every three years until the age of 71.

A new campaign will see celebs like Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas and presenters Victoria Derbyshire and Julia Bradbury send “personal” letters to women, urging them to attend.