The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Woman fought back from tumour the size of a grapefruit
A Dundee cancer survivor who had a tumour the size of a grapefruit has told of how she fought back to health.
As well as battling the illness, Julie-Anne Alexander was struggling with her weight during treatment but she is now in remission and has managed to shed the pounds, proudly showing off her glamorous new look.
The 43-year-old was attending Weight Watchers sessions and exercise classes when she started to notice pain in her neck last year.
She was swiftly diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a relatively uncommon cancer that develops in the lymphatic system.
Julie-Anne said: “The diagnosis came totally out of the blue. Apart from some pain in my neck, I didn’t have any other symptoms.
“I was busy with aerobics classes and Weight Watchers, as I’d always struggled with my weight.
“It turned out that I had a tumour the size of a grapefruit in my chest and it was pressing on my heart. The doctors were amazed that I was able to do aerobics without dropping dead.
“I started having chemotherapy, which makes most people lose weight, but because my treatment had a high dose of penicillin I actually put on over two stone.”
Julie-Anne’s treatment finished in January and she has slowly been getting her life back, even returning to her weight-loss group just months after being given the all-clear.
She is now focusing on being healthy and spending time with family.
She said: “It was only after my treatment finished that it fully hit me that I’d had cancer. Before that I was just so focused on the treatment, on all the appointments and just getting through.”