Mollie’s new book re young person’s experience of cancer

Hi there, my name is Mollie and I have just turned 25. Up until February this year I was living in the Galapagos islands teaching English. I moved out there after finishing my PGCE in teaching languages. I had an itch I couldn’t scratch so spent the last penny to my name on the flight!

Whilst I was out there, I had a few bad health symptoms, but doctors brushed it off. I came home to visit family and within 12 hours of getting off the plane collapsed. I was then diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. (Diffuse Large B Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma). I went from living my best life on an island paradise to a living nightmare spending 125 days in hospital since February. Having cancer as a young adult feels like the whole world is moving on without you, everyday I’d open social media and it would be ‘I’m engaged’, ‘I just bought my first home’ and me, I was just trying not to die.

I found this extremely difficult as I have always been a go getter. Lying in a hospital bed with no purpose was almost harder mentally than the treatment itself. Therefore, I decided something good must come out of this hell. So, I decided to write a guide for young people going through cancer. It is specifically written from a young person’s perspective and is filled with hints and tips nurses might not think to tell you. (It has also been checked over by a nurse of course for the medical accuracy).

With the help of GPLD to access some local support funding, the book is now published and my plan is to distribute them throughout the country on teenager and young adult cancer wards free of charge for anyone that needs it. I have also made it available on Amazon. If I can help just one person through my guide, then getting cancer at such a young age, doesn’t feel all for nothing.

I always say everything happens for a reason and I would like to think my reason for getting this disease was to help others. I also started an Instragram blog (mollie.mulheron) and YouTube channel called #notdramatic and have been visiting sixth forms around the area delivering awareness talks. Since my campaign I have had people messaging me saying because of me, they went to get their symptoms checked. If I can save one life from this, then it was all worth it.

I used to think ‘that will never happen to me’, ‘what are the chances’, but it did happen to me. It never happens until it happens and then it’s too late. So, hold your loved ones tight, all those stupid things you argue about or worry about mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. Be lucky they are your biggest worries. So please please please, buy that thing you’ve always wanted, go on that trip you’ve been putting off, get that tattoo your mum told you not to get, tell that person you love them, live everyday like it’s your last, and never take a single day for granted.

Read Mollie’s full story on our blog here.