Evie Vretchkoff, a beach-loving bright 23-year-old, never thought the lump in her neck she noticed eight weeks ago would turn into life-threatening cancer.
Last week, the social retail manager from Bateau Bay on the NSW Central Coast was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma.
And just a week before Christmas she will begin intensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Evie Vretchkoff, (above) a beach-loving bright 23-year-old, never thought the lump in her neck she noticed eight weeks ago would turn into life-threatening cancer
Last week, the social retail manager was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. And just a week before Christmas she will begin intensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment
‘When I became extremely tired I put it down to working hard and socialising with friends,’ Evie told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I kept pushing myself to be at work whilst being tired and feeling off but then I had a lump come up on my lower neck, above the collarbone.’
In October, Evie went to her family GP who said the texture and characteristics of the lump seemed normal.
A day later Evie became more unwell.
‘The day after seeing my GP, I started to get flu like symptoms and went back to him to check all my other glands and get a doctors certificate to have the rest of the week off work,’ she explained.
‘When I became extremely tired I put it down to working hard and socialising with friends,’ Evie told Daily Mail Australia. ‘I kept pushing myself to be at work whilst being tired and feeling off’
When things didn’t improve and the lump hadn’t disappeared two weeks later, Evie took herself to hospital.
She had begun feeling light headed, was experiencing flu-like symptoms and was having frequent chest pains.
A chest X-ray and a blood count came back normal.
‘I presumed it was nothing serious and that it was obviously an infection or viral,’ Evie said.
After another month of still feeling exhausted and unwell, Evie returned to her GP who gave her a referral for an ultrasound to be done of the lump.
The results showed ‘numerous chunky lymph nodes’ in her neck, but otherwise appeared normal.
In October, Evie went to her family GP about a lump that had come up on her lower neck, above the collarbone, but was advised the texture and characteristics of the lump were normal
A biopsy was suggested to be absolutely sure but no medical specialists seemed to show cause for concern.
‘As the weeks went on, I still wasn’t feeling any better so ended up back to the doctors, this time at a new doctor,’ Evie explained.
‘After telling him all the information on how I was feeling he chose to do a new X-ray and blood count. These results came back with elevated white blood cells and slight inflammation in the right side of my chest.’
It was only after a CT scan that a mass of nodes measuring 4cm by 5cm were discovered in her chest as well as the nodes that had come up in her neck.
‘Within the space of one week, I saw my haematologist, had a core biopsy done on Tuesday, a PET scan was done on Thursday and then back to see my Haematologist on the Friday’.
On Friday November 7 Evie received a diagnosis she had early stage Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
‘Although this was a scary thing to hear, I took it well and focused on the positives,’ she said.
‘I was early stages, which meant it was only in my neck and chest and hadn’t gone into any organs, my mass in my chest wasn’t bulky and moving outwards.’
When things didn’t improve and the lump hadn’t disappeared two weeks later, Evie took herself to hospital with flu-like symptoms and chest pains
Evie is hopeful that she will be cured within six months after a two-month treatment of ABVD Chemotherapy every two weeks and two months of radiotherapy.
Despite being told the radiotherapy may not be possible due to a mass in her chest being too close to breast tissue, possibly causing breast cancer if touched, she remains positive and optimistic.
‘If that’s the case then I’ll need to do another two months of chemotherapy which I have decided I’ll have a break in between to have my ovary sliced and frozen as another two months of Chemotherapy could cause infertility problems,’ she said.
‘I’m only at the beginning of my journey and start my first treatment of Chemotherapy tomorrow (Monday)’.
A gofundme page created by a friend has gone a long way towards Evie’s treatment.
But more importantly, she says she has been overwhelmed with the love and kindness she has received from the central coast community.
Any money donated will be put towards possible IVF, the loss of income from not being able to work, specialist appointments, out of pocket fees from scans and tests and ‘a few awesome wigs to help me feel better about losing my hair’ Evie said.
‘I’m just so blessed that I have such great support from friends family and strangers and it really makes all the difference in a time like this I can’t thank everyone enough or even express how appreciated it is.’
‘I’m just so blessed that I have such great support from friends family and strangers and it really makes all the difference in a time like this I can’t thank everyone enough or even express how appreciated it is,’ Evie said