'I thought I was healthier than ever… the next month I felt a lump on my neck'

A young woman has spoken out about her gruelling journey after discovering she was suffering with cancer.

Lakita Neille, 24, from Chorley, was first diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in July 2019 after finding a lump on her neck in February. It was a huge shock to her and the journey to get healthy was a difficult slog.

“In the January, I was on my first teaching placement," Lakita said. "I was going to the gym each day and I’d lost weight. I thought I was healthier than ever but I was constantly shattered. I put it down to being busy and didn’t think anything of it. The following month I felt a lump on my neck. I was really worried.

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“I got an emergency appointment the next day and the doctor told me it was a swollen gland. But I was struggling to get up for lectures and the lump in my neck was getting bigger. I went to a walk-in clinic in the April and I was referred to a suspected cancer clinic. The bloods showed I was slightly anaemic, so I convinced myself that’s all it was.

"After many tests and procedures, I was eventually diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in the July and I was transferred to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. I had chemotherapy which got me into remission. I lived my life for two to three years without even thinking about cancer as much, and I felt grateful.”

Lakita is to premier her own short film at a series of charity gigs at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

But, in October 2022 after moving in with her boyfriend Ollie and getting everything exactly how she wanted it, Lakita was hit with terrifying news. She found another lump on her neck, and after scans, her doctor confirmed