Jacob McLucas shares Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma cancer journey

‘If I just took some Panadol and went to bed … it probably would have been too late’: Young cancer survivor shares journey of chemotherapy, radiation and what it has been like returning to normal life.

They say you should always follow your gut feeling.

If Jacob McLucas didn’t trust his gut on May 30, 2021, his life could have drastically changed – and for the worse.

Sitting at home on a regular Sunday night, Jacob, 26, started feeling really light headed and like he was going to pass out and all of a sudden he had a high fever.

“I listened to my body and I told Aden (his fiance) to call the ambulance,” Jacob said.

Over the next three and half weeks, Jacob remained in hospital at Rockhampton and underwent many tests and scans, two biopsies and a PET scan in Brisbane.

On June 22, he got a devastating diagnosis, stage 4B diffuse large B-cell Lymphoma, known as lymphatic blood cancer, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Typically Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma starts in a lymph node at one or more places in the body and can spread through the lymphatic system and to other lymph tissue, particularly in the bone marrow, spleen and liver.

A diffuse large B-cell is a fast growing, intermediate-grade subtype and starts when the structure of the lymph node is disrupted and the lymphoma cells spread throughout the lymph node, while stage four means lymphoma is in multiple lymph nodes and has spread to other parts of the body.

While the word ‘cancer’ was thrown around during his hospital stay, the diagnosis was still a shock for Jacob.

“It was very tough, it’s never anything anyone wants to hear,” he said.

“The hardest part was telling Aden and my Mum and Dad who are travelling around Australia at the moment, they weren’t able to be there with me physically.”

Once the diagnosis was in, it meant doctors and specialists could work out an action plan and Jacob was placed on a chemotherapy plan, R Chop, a cancer drug combination.

Within the next few days, he did the first session of the six chemo rounds, which were every three weeks and for seven to eight hours a day.

“I don’t think anything can ever prepare you for that … Not to mention that the chemo regimen I was on was super intense, because of how aggressive the cancer was,” he said.

“The first week after chemo I would feel pretty good because I was pumped full of drugs and anti-nausea medication, but week two and three was usually where all the side effects would happen…nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhoea, changes in taste, loss of nerve endings, bone pain, memory loss, just to name a few.

“Some cycles I was fine and felt mostly like myself, just very fatigued ….Some days I felt absolutely awful and couldn’t get out of bed.

“It knocked me around a lot and I couldn’t commit to doing a lot of things because I was just sick a lot of the time.”

In mid-July, six weeks into the chemo, the cancer became real when Jacob started to lose his hair.

“I was in denial for a very long time, even when I was in hospital for a month, I was like ‘oh, it’s not cancer, it could be an infection, it can’t be that, I am too young’,” he said.

“It felt very surreal even for the first couple of months.

“It wasn’t until I started losing my hair from chemo and I started to look sick … it really started to hit home.”

During chemo, Jacob faced the potential fact that he could die.

“There was that fear the chemo might not work, the radiation might not work, the cancer could come back, I could die from this … that fear was there the whole time and it sucks because it’s nothing you have control over,” he said.

“It’s something you have to live with and take it on as it comes.”

Jacob had his last chemotherapy session on October 15 and a few weeks later he travelled to Bundaberg for another PET scan.

The results weren’t exactly what he and the doctors were hoping for and Jacob had to go on radiation for the month of December.

Jacob had his last radiation treatment on January 6 and the wonderful staff at the Rockhampton Hospital cancer clinic Genesis Care marked the occasion by playing his favourite artist, Taylor Swift, with her song Celebration.

Looking back on the journey of the past seven months, it has been a whirlwind of ups and downs to say the least.

“I got through it all with my amazing support system around me,” Jacob said.

“It’s important to make sure you are open about your feelings and you do try and have that support system around you.

“I went with it day by day … I was just on autopilot, I just woke up, went to treatment, went to bed.”

While there were many sad times, there were some highlights as well.

“The best times were when I was feeling energetic and happy to be out and about,” Jacob said.

“My most treasured moment was my birthday night and my best friends surprised me with a party, we had a great night … great music, food, great friends … We really just celebrated the good and just had one night where it wasn’t about Jacob and his cancer, it was about Jacob and his happiness and his birthday.”

Jacob has now been back working at his retail job for a few weeks, which has been an unexpected struggle.

“Going back to normality, trying to fit back into society and fit back into your routine … it’s been hard,” he said.

While he is in remission, he isn’t quite cancer free.

With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Jacob won’t be declared “cancer free” until he has been in remission for five years.

There is also a 20 per cent chance the cancer will come back in the next five years.

“That’s something that is on my mind every day,” he said.

“I am keeping a close eye on it, I know what symptoms to look out for, I check my lymph nodes every day.”

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is the sixth most common cancer diagnosed in Australia with 6,400 people diagnosed each year.

Most cases are in women rather than men, and in adults aged 60 or older.

“Reaching out to people in the cancer community and on social media to people who are going through the same struggle, really made me realise that no matter what age you are, cancer doesn't discriminate … (it) doesn’t matter if you are male, female, gay, straight, old, young,” Jacob said.

Coming back out the other side, the key message Jacob wants to share is to look after your body.

In the months leading up to the fateful night in May, Jacob had lost 20 kilos.

“To me, I thought I was just losing weight, realistically I wasn’t actively losing weight, the weight was just dropping off,” he said.

He later found out that weight loss was a symptom of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Other symptoms include high fever, night sweats, tender lymph nodes, dizziness and fatigue.

“If your body is telling you something is wrong, you really need to listen, don’t ignore it,” he said.

“I often think if I didn’t get Aden to call the ambulance that night, and if I just took some Panadol and went to bed … it probably would have been too late.

“Early detection is the best way of preventing the worst case scenario.”

Jacob admitted he was the type of person who usually ignored symptoms.

“I don’t like going to the doctor, I don’t like making appointments,” he said.

“That night in particular I felt like something wasn't right.”

If you have someone who is going through cancer, check in on them as much as you physically can, Jacob encouraged.

“Make sure you are supporting them throughout their whole journey not just the beginning, from beginning to end,” he said.

“I was the one that had cancer but everyone else was affected by it too, like my partner Aden, I always made sure he was okay and he had support.

“You have to make sure you are supported but everyone around you is also supported too.

“It’s hard on everyone involved.”