#KnowYourSubtype: Rower wins silver a year after lymphoma diagnosis

Brittain was diagnosed with lymphoma last year and says it came as a huge shock. “As a professional athlete I was training two to three times a day so the thought that I could have cancer was practically impossible for me to comprehend.”

Even with both his parents being doctors (his father is an oncologist and his mother is the team doctor for the South African rowing squad), Brittain explains that it still took some time before he was eventually diagnosed with lymphoma – with his symptoms prompting doctors to first test for, and rule out, illnesses such as bilharzia.

“As I was training on a dam every day, it was first suspected that I had picked up a waterborne sickness. Lymphoma can present itself as so many other different kinds of illnesses and doctors don’t jump to the thought 'cancer' straight away.”

The internet is littered with similar stories about patients who thought that they had a stubborn dose of flu and/or fatigue only to find out that they have lymphoma. Others have been wrongly diagnosed with other illnesses, exhaustion, stress, anxiety, allergies, asthma and depression - once again to finally discover they have been suffering from lymphoma, a cancer which affects the blood and lymphatic system.

It all adds up

Misdiagnosis and misinformation seems to be common words associated with lymphoma, and in fact statistics from the Lymphoma Coalition show that this happens in 62% of cases. Only 35% of those suffering with lymphoma are diagnosed properly the first time, whilst 46% of patients were given the wrong medication based on their misdiagnosis.
In addition to misdiagnosis there is also a lot of unknown information about lymphoma. For example most people are not aware that there are 60 different sub-types of the illness.

Knowledge leads to better outcomes

The 15^th of September is World Lymphoma Awareness Day and the Lymphoma Coalition, together with an organisation called Campaigning 4 Cancer (C4C), have launched an awareness campaign called Know Your Subtype to assist people in understanding the signs and symptoms of lymphoma to help avoid misdiagnosis, and to also understand the many different sub-types of this disease.

“Lymphoma was once thought of as a group of diseases that were classified as either Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Now it has been identified that there are 60 subtypes of lymphomas – information which has led to more targetted and more effective therapy protocols and ultimately improved patient outcomes,” says Dr David Brittain.

“Improved treatments and patient outcomes are the ultimate goal - and this is why understanding the symptoms of lymphoma for quicker diagnosis, and then knowing your subtype for accurate treatment is so important.”

Know your subtype

Stats show that one in four patients are not aware of their particular subtype at the time of diagnosis, and nearly half don’t understand the characteristics of their subtype. Without this understanding, patients may not be aware of their specific diagnosis and unable to find information or make informed decisions about treatment or support.

Dr Brittain says that increased/improved knowledge and awareness on lymphoma subtypes will lead to better treatment for patients and a better availability of information to the public and the medical sector alike.