As someone who has had a few brushes with the big C, I’ve learned to listen to my body when I think something might be wrong. Which is why Hope Stringer’s story is an important one of us all to hear.
Stringer is a 24-year-old from England. She went out for a night with her friends, and, like most of us, woke up the next day with a vicious hangover. She thought that hangover hanging on for a few days was simply a sign she was getting older.
“I was tired for days after, but I thought it was just a hangover. The older I’m getting, the worse they seem,” she told Caters News Agency.
But when Hope’s symptoms didn’t go away after a few weeks, she decided to head to the doctor.
“I was told it was just a migraine and was prescribed painkillers, which didn’t seem unusual as I’d been working long hours at my job where I’m constantly on the phone and on the computer.” But she knew that wasn’t it. “I know my body and I knew something wasn’t right.”
And it turns out that Hope’s intuition was right: she was finally diagnosed with soft-tissue sarcoma.
After removal of several tumors, chemotherapy and radiation, Stringer is finally cancer-free. And she’s grateful to that “persistent hangover” that forced her to listen to her body, and she’s hoping that her experience can inspire others to take care of themselves if they feel that something may be wrong.
“I want other people to be aware of the signs and symptoms and take action as soon as possible,” she said. “If I hadn’t kept going back to the doctors, the outcome may be very different today.”.
[via New York Post]