- Tomas Evans, 18, thought his shoulder pain was caused by a muscle strain at the gym.
- He had an apple-sized lump under his collarbone.
- He was diagnosed with stage 2 blood cancer.
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A teenager who thought his shoulder pain was caused by a muscle strain while exercising actually had cancer.
In June 2022, Tomas Evans, 18, of Wales, UK, found a fist-sized lump under his collarbone two days after hitting the gym and, according to his mother Rachael Tudor, he felt severe pain in his arm.
Evans went to his doctor thinking he just pulled a muscle and a scan was arranged, Tudor wrote on a GoFundMe page.
On July 20, Evans was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare type of cancer. The most common symptom is painless swelling of a lymph node, usually in the neck, armpit, or groin. It is most common in people between the ages of 20 and 40 and those over the age of 75, and men have it slightly more often than women.
“The lump was quite large, about the size of an apple,” Evans told Kennedy News and Media. “I thought it was just a muscle that was misaligned or something and it wasn’t, it was related to the lymphoma.”
The lump on his shoulder was caused by blood cancer
After further tests, scans and a biopsy, the family found that Evans had stage two cancer, with the mass located in his chest cavity. The mass in the chest made the lump appear under the collarbone.
“We came home and we cried for the whole two weeks waiting for the test results,” Tudor said. “It’s been the most terrifying two weeks of our lives as the crippling fear of what on earth is about to happen was terrifying.”
Evans, an electrical engineering student, began 12 rounds of chemotherapy in September.
“The chemotherapy is going really well. My scan about five weeks ago was clear, but I have yet to do the treatment until the end of February just to make sure it’s gone everywhere,” Evans said.
Evans is very tired and at high risk of infection, Tudor told Insider: “His journey continues to be tough but the end is in sight and we will continue to fight for that ‘decree’ status.”
The support from her family, friends and community is “amazing,” Tudor said.
The family has been raising funds in the hope that once Evans gets the green light, he’ll be able to do all the things he had planned, including taking a vacation with his friends, starting his apprenticeship as an electrician and taking his girlfriend to Winter Wonderland. a Christmas event in London.
“The GoFundMe page was set up by my close friend on our behalf as we had a lot of people who wanted to fundraise for charity on Tomas’ behalf,” Tudor said. “When we reached his goal in less than a week, it was overwhelming.”
The family have already made a donation to the charity Lymphoma Action on Evans’ behalf, and they “will be making a donation at the end of treatment to two other charities that have supported us closely through this nightmare,” Tudor said.