A teenager has revealed how her worsening hangovers led to a devastating stage three cancer diagnosis.
Last April, Poppy Beguely, who was 19 at the time, began vomiting and developing facial rashes and sores after consuming as little as two drinks on nights out.
She initially put it the symptoms down to partying too often, she started to be more concerned when she started coughing blood and the symptoms persisted.
She was hospitalized three times that summer and was misdiagnosed with a blood condition. It wasn’t until December 2022 that doctors decided to carried out a biopsy of a lump Poppy developed on her neck.
Poppy during treatment in hospital
Party girl: Poppy (right) on a night out with a friend in 2022
Tests revealed she was suffering from stage-three Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that affects lymph tissue, which is found in the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, bone marrow, and other parts of the body.
‘It was very bittersweet – I had spent so long worrying about what was wrong with me and having this dread that something might have been seriously wrong, and no one was going to find out what it was,’ Poppy, from Auckland, New Zealand, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
‘Part of me was happy that I didn’t have to worry about what exactly was wrong anymore.
‘But then, the other part of me was obviously quite upset that I was going to have to go through chemotherapy and lose my hair/eyelashes/eyebrows.
‘I had been a model for a few years, so the thought of that was really hard to get my head around, but at the end of the day you win some and you lose some.
Poppy full of life on a night out (left) and after one of her brutal chemo sessions (right)
After her diagnosis, Poppy started chemotherapy in February 2023 shortly after her 20th birthday, and lasted for four months
‘The doctors were reassuring that it was unlikely to be fatal as long as I didn’t get any bad infections while doing chemo – they have a high remission rate for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, [so] thankfully I got the lesser of all evils.’
Her concerns had initially started following the increasingly severe hangovers she experienced after nights out.
Poppy, who works as a florist and swimming instructor, said: ‘If I went out drinking, it would take me two drinks to feel a lot more drunk than most people my age and maybe three, four drinks before I would start feeling very ill.
‘Nearly every night I would go out it would end in me vomiting the same night or the morning following.
‘I also noticed a trend with coughing up blood in the mornings after drinking and the rash on my face would flare up and get worse.’
After her diagnosis, Poppy started chemotherapy in February 2023 shortly after her 20th birthday, and lasted for four months.
She said: ‘One of those months I spent in hospital as an impatient because I had a very severe and rare reaction to a blood transfusion, which gave me the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life – in my bones.
Poppy after finishing chemotherapy and growing her hair back
She gets to enjoy an espresso martini after being given the all-clear by doctors
‘I was on so many painkillers that it totally screwed up my stomach and bowels and in turn my weight dropped down to 35kgs (5st 5lbs) and left me stuck on a feeding tube.
‘[This was] the only time I was really scared for my life.’
Poppy was able to get through chemotherapy and is now in remission.
She has also been able to return to work, having had to focus on treatment for much of the year.
Poppy said: ‘I think the worst part of having cancer and coming out the other end of it is realising that while your life got put on hold, the world and everyone around you keeps going.
‘For a while, you feel like you’ve taken so many steps back that it’s hard to get back to normality.
‘Ultimately it has given me a different outlook on life.
‘I remember when I was an inpatient and I wasn’t allowed outside for weeks because mommy’s immune system was too compromised.
‘When I did get to go outside, and the sun was on my face, I just started crying, and I couldn’t stop.
‘I took the smallest things for granted before the smallest things were out of reach.
‘I’m grateful that I won my life back, especially after a year of not knowing [what was wrong].’
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