Asha Patel from Bressingham shares her story for national Cancer Research UK poster campaign
A Diss High School teenager has been the face of a nationwide drive to raise awareness of teenage and young adult cancers.
Asha Patel, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, aged 16, starred in a poster campaign for Cancer Research UK, which was on display in more than 500 of the charity’s shops in April.
On the poster, Asha from Bressingham, looks like any other teen, except her life has been anything but ordinary.
While her friends were thinking about A-levels, university and making plans for their future, Asha was faced with a devastating diagnosis of stage 4 cancer in 2024.
The teenager, who had not been feeling well for some time, found a small lump on the side of her neck, which grew to the size of a golf ball.
After emergency biopsies and scans, doctors told Asha she had cancer, which had spread to her lungs and spleen. The diagnosis, and subsequent treatment, turned her world upside down.
She said: “Everything changed. I couldn’t go out day to day in case I got an infection, and the treatment made me too tired sometimes.
“Chemotherapy took over. Days at the hospital could last from 6am to 11pm, so I had to cancel everything on that day and the next, as well as big things like holidays.”
It was the complexities that came with facing cancer at such a pivotal point in her life that saw her hand-picked to share her story to mark Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Awareness Month.
Now back at school following a long road to recovery, Asha is still living with the fallout from her experience.
She added: “I have more appreciation of life and what I have. I realised I take so much for granted.”
While survival has improved, cancer still accounts for approximately 250 deaths in young people aged 15 to 24 each year – making Asha the perfect poster girl for the recent campaign.
Cancer Research UK spokesman Patrick Keely said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Asha for sharing her experience and helping to give hope to others.”
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