Cancer symptom: Teen thought he had pulled muscle in the gym, turned out to be a fist-sized cancer

A teenager thought he pulled a muscle while weight lifting in the gym. However, doctors found that it was actually cancer.

Back in June, two days after working out in the gym, Tomas Evans, 18, from Wrexham, Wales, woke up to a painful fist-sized lump on his shoulder.

Talking about his symptoms, Tomas told Kennedy News, "I thought that lump was just a gym injury. I went to the gym and two days later woke up with a big lump on my shoulder and it was causing me really bad pain."

Describing the lump, he explained, "The lump was quite big and about the size of an apple. I thought it had just been a muscle that had come out of place or something and it wasn't, it was to do with the lymphoma."

After visiting his general practitioner, for what he thought was an injury, Tomas was referred for various scans, x-rays and a biopsy. The following month, he was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin Lymphoma.

This uncommon cancer mostly affects people in the ages between 20 to 40. It develops in the body's lymphatic system, which is a network of vessels and glands throughout the body.

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Rachael Tudor, Tomas' mom, talked about the anxiety associated with her child's cancer diagnosis.

She said, "We came home and cried for the whole two weeks waiting on the test results. It was the most horrendous two weeks of our lives as the crippling anxiety of what on earth we were facing was awful."

"When we got the diagnosis it was cancer and Hodgkin Lymphoma I knew I had to stay strong to get him and the family through this," she added.

Tomas started chemotherapy in September. Thankfully, halfway through his treatment, he received the good news that his scans are all clear. Tomas will finish his chemo course in February 2023.

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The diagnosis gravely impacted the teen's life. He shared, "I had to take a year out of college and stop work and being able to go out places is a lot more difficult now because I'm at a high risk of infections."

"I get tired quite easily walking around places and just doing normal things, especially closer to when I've had the treatment as well," he said.

His mom added, "Obviously treatment is challenging and Tomas has ended up in hospital a few times poorly with neutropenic sepsis and the worry of him catching infections has been our primary concern this time of year."

Appreciating her child's strength, she said, "But thankfully he's on track and doing well. We are so proud of him and how he's coped."

Doctors are not sure as to what exactly causes Hodgkin's lymphoma. It begins when infection-fighting white blood cells (lymphocytes) develop changes in their DNA. According to the Mayo Clinic, the DNA changes tell the cells to multiply rapidly and continue living when other cells would naturally die. The extra cells crowd into the lymph nodes which causes swelling and other symptoms associated with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

According to Mayo Clinic, other symptoms of Hodgkin's lymphoma include:

-Painless swelling of lymph nodes in your neck, armpits or groin

-Persistent fatigue

-Fever

-Night sweats

-Losing weight without trying

-Severe itching

-Pain in your lymph nodes after drinking alcohol

Factors that can increase the risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma include:

-Most often diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s and those over age 55.

-A family history of lymphoma increases your risk of developing Hodgkin's lymphoma.

-People who are assigned male at birth are more likely to develop this condition than those who are assigned female.

-People who have had illnesses caused by the Epstein-Barr virus are more likely to develop Hodgkin's lymphoma.

-People who are infected with HIV have an increased risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma.