Briony Benjamin shares her story after being diagnosed with stage four lymphoma

A woman who was diagnosed with cancer 18 months after her first symptoms says she was told by doctors the signs were probably just stress.

A woman who was diagnosed with a stage four blood cancer 18 months after her first symptoms says she was told by doctors the subtle signs were probably just stress.

Briony Benjamin was diagnosed with stage four lymphoma in 2018 at the age of 31 while she was working as an executive producer at Mamamia.

After a tough battle, Ms Benjamin has been in remission for six years.

She said her initial signs of illness were so subtle the cancer was missed for sometime.

“I had a very fast, high paced sort of job working in media,” Ms Benjamin said.

“And I suppose, over the course of 18 months, I just felt absolutely rotten, but kept getting told by doctors that I was fine and it was probably just stress.

“I just felt exhausted all the time.

“No matter how much I rested. I was always tired, and I got sick really easily.

“That kept, I suppose, just getting put down to stress. I actually, in the end, had every single sign of lymphoma.”

Ms Benjamin said from that experience she learnt that if you feel like something is off to keep pushing and digging for answers.

Briony Benjamin during treatment for lymphoma. Photo: Supplied.

Briony Benjamin during treatment for lymphoma. Photo: Supplied.

“I was told for a good 12 to 18 months that I was totally fine, and by the time we got it diagnosed, thanks to my parents, who were persistently on my case,” she said.

“It was stage four, which meant it had spread outside of the lymph glands, and it got all around my body. It was in my bones, and it was about as advanced as it can be.”

Ms Benjamin said she had itchy skin – which she put down to food allergies, a cough and night sweats.

“The day I found out, it was just a huge shock. I think when you’re 31 you think life’s just taking off, and you’re sort of in your prime, and you think cancer is something that happens to other people,” she said.

After she was in remission she asked doctors how long she would have had if she didn’t have treatment and they said a couple of months.

Briony Benjamin and her one-year-old son Charlie. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“I was told that I had to basically stop work from that day and, like, clear my slate for the next year, basically, and I was going to start the egg freezing process the next day, and then start chemo, within a fortnight,” she said.

“I started chemotherapy three days before Christmas. Not exactly the ideal Christmas present. It’s a really scary, overwhelming experience to go in for that first day of treatment.”

Ms Benjamin said she started losing her hair a month in.

“For women, the losing your hair is a huge part of it. That happened to me about a month in, and that was just a sad day,” she said.

“I was like, this is me right now, stripped right back, no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. It was like, Wow. This is a really interesting experience.”

But six years in remission she is grateful for the life she now has. She has one child and is pregnant with her second baby.

“The week that I turned five years in remission I fell pregnant,” she said.

“So it was like, a pretty amazing end of one chapter, and the start of a new chapter.”