Doctors completely overlooked key cancer symptoms and blamed my back pain on my new office job - but the truth was far more sinister
Lara Muller, from Guildford in Surrey, first began to experience a sore neck and back, while also suffering with a chest infection, in December 2024 - but she initially thought little of her symptoms and continued working out daily.
When the 'fit and healthy' 22-year-old's infection developed into a cough and she started to feel exhausted all the time, despite drinking more coffee and taking vitamin D supplements, Lara went to the GP surgery to get herself checked out.
After having her bloods taken, Lara was told by the GP that her exhaustion was the result of anaemia and her back pain was due to sitting down all day at her new office job.
Her symptoms, however, worsened, leading Lara to return to the doctor for a second opinion but, according to the events management and marketing graduate, she was just given a higher dosage of iron tablets for her 'anaemia'.
'I knew there was something wrong with me and I was just getting worse but no one was hearing it,' the business development manager said.
It was only when she coughed up blood after developing another chest infection in March of this year that an X-ray and CT scan revealed a mass in her chest.
And, following key hole surgery at hospital in June 2025, Lara was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma - a type of blood cancer.
She is now raising awareness of her signs and symptoms to ensure other people push for a second - or even third - opinion if they feel unwell.
Lara said: 'Now I'm having treatment and I have solutions and answers, I feel 10 times better than I did when I was ill and not knowing what it was. But, no one prepares you to hear that you have cancer at 22.'
The ordeal began back in December when she started to get neck and back pain and kept picking up chest infections.
Lara, who didn't think much of it at the time, said: 'I felt so tired all the time so I went to the doctors and they did my bloods and they put it down to anaemia.
'I asked about the back and neck pain and they said as I'd started a new job and I sat down in a chair all day, it was probably to do with that. I went back two or three more times [to the GP] because my symptoms got worse.
'I've always been really fit and active and into sports and at my new job I'd sit down all day so surely I wouldn't be getting that tired.'
The doctor kept insisting that her symtoms were the result of her anemia and increased the dose of her tablets, she said.
Lara then started getting dizzy all the time and was unable to walk for 10 minutes without feeling worn out, prompting her to return to the doctor's for a third time.
'I went back to the doctors a third time as I started to get really dizzy and they told me it was down to the anaemia again,' she said. I would walk 10 minutes up the road and I'd be so exhausted from it and I thought this isn't right.
'I tried taking electrolytes every morning and was having more coffee and taking supplements to give myself energy and nothing was working.
'I booked an emergency doctor's appointment and they booked me in for a chest X-ray and they then wanted to book me in for an urgent CT scan as they found a big mass on my chest.'
According to the NHS, Hodgkin lymphoma is an uncommon cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, which is a network of vessels and glands spread throughout your body.
It mostly affects people aged between 20 and 40 and common symptoms include night sweats, unexplained weight loss, itching and a persistent cough.
Alongside her cough, Lara said she also lost a lot of weight despite having to decrease her exercise routine due to her extreme exhaustion.
She has now completed her second round of chemotherapy and only has one cycle left before she hopefully will enter remission.
Lara said: 'I started going to the gym less as I was too exhausted to go. I'd normally go four or five times a week and then I went down to once a week.
'There was a period of two months when I didn't go at all and I was losing weight and I thought this isn't right.
'If I was going on the leg machine I would lift 110kg and this went down to 50kg.'
Lara is now urging others to get themselves checked out if they feel something isn't right.
Lara said: 'I would say keep pushing if you think something is wrong with you. I should have just trusted my gut instincts more as you know in your gut how you're feeling.'
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