Lorna Nickson Brown, 26 years old, was looking at one of her photos one day when she noticed that there was a huge lump on her neck. Brown, who’s a cisgender female, knew that the lump was anything but an Adam’s apple. When she had it checked by a doctor, she discovered that she had thyroid cancer, indy100 reports.
Brown, who’s an actor and a producer, was diagnosed with the cancer in early 2015.
Brown told indy100, “My mum noticed a lump on the front left side of my neck. She thought I lost a bit of weight, but three months later I visited the GP who confirmed that it was a thyroid nodule.”
Having thyroid nodules are usually common and harmless. Lorna’s nodule, however, was large enough to scare her. Also, the lump felt solid when doctors touched it, so they decided on having it removed.
After four months of scanning, she finally had a biopsy, which gave her the result that the lump on her neck was cancerous.
Brown said, “I felt numb. I didn’t believe it because I felt so well. At the time, I was optioned for a Golden Globe-nominated TV series. This isn’t what I thought cancer looked like. The minute you tell people, it’s the cancer face. I didn’t feel ill.”
After her diagnosis, she met Des McGuire, who’s a counselor and a nurse backed by Birmingham charity Get-A-Head.
Brown said, “That has been the difference for me, having him there. Google is so scary. He said to me, you have a choice – you can Google thyroid cancer and freak yourself out or you can ask me.
“Select your sources. He gave me recommended things to read. It’s about selecting those correct sources. I had somebody- in the middle of the night I would send him an email filled with questions and he answered every single one.”
Brown was scheduled to be operated by oncologist John Watkinson at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. She had a partial thyroidectomy.
Brown said, “There’s no right way. In my own experience just knowing that I can be open and talk about that word with someone, where it’s not all a negative association. We don’t speak openly about illness so you can feel quite isolated. It can feel quite lonely.”
Brown was scheduled to be operated by oncologist John Watkinson at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. She had a partial thyroidectomy.
Brown said, “I think everyone should have someone like Des – no matter the illness. Mental health in patients – especially patients with cancer is so overlooked. My ability to lead a better life is the fact that I had psychological support from day one.”
