Guernsey man's cancer diagnosis halts seven-month travel plans
"The stereotype is like spot-on, the room goes quiet, you kind of just go into a bit of a blank space."A man from Guernsey has described the moment he was diagnosed with cancer forcing him to cancel his travel plans to Thailand.Matt Medhurst, 22, had booked to go on the seven-month trip with a group of friends in November 2024.He said he went for a number of tests prior to the trip to ensure he was "fit and healthy", but a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis meant he needed 16 rounds of chemotherapy.
'Bit of a shock'
Mr Medhurst said it all started after he went for a vaccination the day before he was due to set off on his travels."The lady at the counter, once I paid for it, said 'Oh on the system I can see the doctor is wanting to have a meeting with you about your bloods'," he added.He said he was sent for a scan and received a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis on 8 November, adding he went "into a blank space". "The first thing they said to me was 'I'm sorry but you won't be going away'," he said."It was a bit of a shock.
'Very lucky'
"Just before Christmas I went for a PET scan...once I got the results on that I had progressed to stage three."He began chemotherapy on 8 January until 19 March and said he felt "very lucky"."I'm 22, young, healthy and have been able to deal with the treatment quite well," he said."I couldn't go travelling, well in the grand scheme of things, that isn't necessarily that big, is it?"I consider myself quite lucky in that sense."
'Still in recovery'
Mr Medhurst said he planned to travel in future."I'm not allowed to go for a quite a while, I'm still in recovery," he added."It's something I'll have to put on the back burner until maybe like next year."I kind of realise that [travelling] is always going to be there, I'm always going to be able to go."But at the moment just focussing on health, focussing on my relationships with friends and family, that is what is important to me right now."The 22-year old documented his experience on his podcast The Meddy Diaries.
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