World Cancer Day: Meet the recent graduate who has survived cancer and is now helping other young people facing chemo

Mollie Mulheron (BA Modern Languages, 2020; PGCE, 2022) was diagnosed with stage four Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in February 2023, shortly after returning from working in the Galápagos Islands. Now in remission, she has published a book sharing her experience and top tips to support other teenagers and young people living with cancer.

I loved my time at Newcastle University

I decided to study at Newcastle University because I’m a very social person and Newcastle has a reputation for being one big party! I absolutely loved my time there, making lots of friends and getting involved in all the social activities available.

I lived in Victoria Halls in my first year and was really lucky to click with the people I met there immediately, so we ended up living together in Jesmond later. We enjoyed nights out at Market Shaker, Soho Rooms and – obviously – Rusty’s! I also got involved with the Trampoline Club at the Students’ Union, and briefly joined the A Cappella Society.

My favourite part of my undergraduate experience was my year abroad. I spent 6 months in Valencia, Spain and then the remaining 6 months in Graz, Austria, studying how to teach languages. In Spain, I spent my lunch breaks at the beach – it was phenomenal.

Sadly, my last term of my undergraduate and then my PGCE were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. It was a real shame to end my Newcastle experience on such a low, when the previous 3 years had been amazing. Despite missing out on some things, I managed to organise my own graduation with my family. We ordered a hat and gown online and I managed to still get a picture under the Arches!

Teaching in paradise

After completing my PGCE, and having suffered a relationship ending, I promptly packed up and left Newcastle for the Galápagos Islands! In hindsight, it was probably a bit of a quarter-life crisis but I have no regrets, it was the best thing I’ve ever done.  

I spent my days teaching English to children from primary school age through to 17, and my free time was spent swimming with sea lions and turtles – it was literally paradise. My favourite memory is teaching one of my classes all of the lyrics to ‘Hot and Cold’ by Katy Perry, and they also enjoyed singing and dancing to ‘Waka Waka’ by Shakira!

I loved my experience in the Galápagos so much, that I had even started thinking about maybe living out there for good. That was the plan anyway, until I started to feel unwell.

My life was flipped upside down

I first started experiencing symptoms in December 2022, but the scary thing is that the symptoms were so vague and easily explainable by other things that cancer never crossed my mind.

I had pain in my chest and breathing began to hurt, to the point where I couldn’t sleep. Doctors offered painkillers and physiotherapy, but nothing helped. I was constantly tired and then I began itching all over, but I just thought maybe it was from the heat. At one point I was diagnosed with chicken pox (which I definitely didn’t have) and after being offered all sorts of treatments, I was told it was just anxiety and all in my head. That was awful.

After a few months I was crying every day and just despairing about what was wrong with me, so I decided to fly home to the UK. I desperately missed my family and thought I may as well visit a GP while back home.

Live, Laugh, Lymphoma

My mental health really suffered during my hospital stay. I had lots of complications, contracted sepsis multiple times and at one point I was having suicidal thoughts.

There was no respite from the treatment, and I needed something proactive and positive to focus on. That’s when I had the idea to write down my experience. I think that young people are often not considered when you think of a typical cancer patient, and so there wasn’t much support or advice offered that was really tailored to my individual experience.

My recovery

My treatment ended in July 2023 and six weeks later, a scan showed that the tumour – originally 16cm by 6cm – had shrunk considerably. There was still lots of inflammation though, and the doctors weren’t sure whether that was cancerous still.

I had an agonising 3-month wait to have another scan and check it out, and in October I was officially given the ‘all clear’. It’s miraculous that a tumour as big as the one I had has reduced to virtually nothing, just a bit of scar tissue. I feel very lucky.

Since then, I’ve been focusing on my recovery. It’s hard that there’s no obvious cause for why I got cancer, but I’m trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Getting the book out there has also been a huge focus for me, and I’ve developed a presentation I am taking throughout schools in the UK to raise awareness about the symptoms of cancer and my experience of life changing so fast. This has been extremely successful so far and if I can save just one life by doing this, then it has all been worth it.

I’ve recently returned to work part-time to, as a languages teacher in a nearby secondary school. It’s hard work, but I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m looking forward to the next year and hopefully gaining a bit more independence, moving out of my parents’ house and starting life properly again.

Get your copy of Live, Laugh, Lymphoma: A young person’s guide to giving cancer the middle finger

Mollie’s guide to living with cancer is available to buy now via Amazon. It is also available for free to any young person who has been diagnosed with cancer. Please get in touch with Mollie via Instagram to arrange this.