"I'm eight months pregnant - my extreme morning sickness turned out to be cancer"

A mum-to-be was diagnosed with cancer at five months pregnant after extreme morning sickness turned out to be a symptom of the disease.

Caitlin McAlinden, 24, found out she was pregnant on September 16 2023. The first trimester of her pregnancy was “rocky” and she believed she had severe morning sickness. Caitlin first noticed a pain in her neck on Christmas Day and after weighing herself, noticed she’d lost two stone.

Caitlin says she thought her neck pain was due to having slept funny and started massaging her neck. This is when she found a pea-sized lump. Caitlin didn’t want to see a GP at first, thinking the lump was a “weird” sign of pregnancy but her tiredness became worse and the lump tripled in size.

Caitlin visited her GP on January 2 and was referred for an ultrasound on her neck. They gave her a biopsy on January 16 and the clinician asked Caitlin if she had any family history of Hodgkin lymphoma. She told them one of her second cousins had the disease years before and they sent her for more blood tests.

Caitlin was diagnosed with stage one Hodgkin lymphoma on March 12 and started steroid treatment to shrink the mass. After Caitlin and partner Connor’s baby boy is born, due date May 8, she’ll start a four-week course of chemotherapy. Caitlin is expected to make a full recovery.