Mother-of-two, 28, struggled with neck pain after drinking wine – it was first sign of deadly cancer

A young mother who suffered from shooting pains in her neck when she drank wine was devastated to be told it was a symptom of blood cancer.

Hollie Thursby, 28, from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, started experiencing pain behind her ear and down the side of her neck following the birth of her second son in December 2024.

She said: ‘After I had Jack, I’d have a couple of glasses of wine with a meal.

‘I would get pain in my neck and behind my ear on the left side.

‘I could have prosecco and sometimes it would hurt and sometimes it wouldn’t.

‘I could have lager and it wouldn’t hurt but with wine it would really, really hurt.’

The shooting pains weren’t her only complaint. 

She was also itchy and ‘painfully tired’ – but put the fatigue down to having a toddler and a newborn baby to look after.

Ms Thursby says she first mentioned the symptoms to doctors in January 2025, but they ‘blamed it on her hormones’.

She said: ‘When I went to my GP for the six to eight week check after I’d had my second baby, I complained that I was having really, really itchy skin.

‘My legs were unbearable itchy, on a nighttime particularly.

‘They just said that it was probably down to hormones, I listened to what the GP said and obviously didn’t think anything else of it.

‘I just put it down to that [being a busy mum] and then in July I found a lump in the side of my neck so I went back to the GP.’

After the appearance of the lump, on the left side of her neck, doctors arranged for Ms Thursby to have a CT scan, which revealed that she had a large cluster of lymph nodes.

Ms Thursby had a biopsy taken and on October 23rd 2025, she received the ‘heartbreaking’ diagnosis of stage two Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.

The NHS lists pain in your neck, armpit or groin when drinking alcohol as a symptom of Hodgkin lymphoma. The pain is caused by swelling in the lymph nodes or disease-affected tissue as a result of blood vessel dilation after consuming alcohol.

Ms Thursby says her oncologist explained to her that the pain in her neck after drinking wine was likely to do with the acidity of the alcohol.

She said: ‘When I spoke to the blood cancer doctor, she said she’s been working for 17 years and has only seen it one other time.

‘But pain when you drink alcohol is actually a known side effect of Hodgkin lymphoma.

‘It’s something about the acidity in the wine and not when you drink other alcohol.’

In November, Ms Thursby started her first of round of chemotherapy treatment.

Ms Thursby said: ‘I’d been shattered for a long time.

‘[I felt] painfully tired but I had two babies under two so I just put that down to being a busy mum and having a newborn and a toddler.

‘I was unbearably tired, I would need to have a nap during the day which is not particularly normal.’

Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that affects the white blood cells that help you fight infection.

The most common symptom of Hodgkin lymphoma is a painless lump, usually in the neck, armpit or groin.

Other symptoms include pain in your neck when drinking alcohol, high temperature, night sweats and itchy skin.

Treatments include chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

The primary school teacher says the hardest part of receiving treatment is not being able to look after her two boys, who she desperately doesn’t want to leave to grow up without a mum – like she did. 

She said: ‘My mum died when I was 10 of something called myelodysplasia which is a blood disorder, it’s like a form of blood cancer.

‘It’s too much of a coincidence that my mum had something now I’ve got this.

‘I can’t look after the boys which is what is affecting me the most.

‘Thankfully they are so young they don’t know I’m poorly which is a blessing for them.

‘I’ve got loads of support but for me personally, not being able to look after the boys is the worst thing about it all.

‘I’m their mum, it’s my job to look after them. I keep telling myself, me getting better is me looking after them.

‘I’m worried that I’m dying and that I’m going to leave them. I can’t leave them without a mammy.

‘I grew up without a mum and it was horrendous, I can’t do that to the boys.

‘We’re all devastated but we all know now and we’ve got a treatment plan, which is what we need. 

‘I’m just doing everything I can to get better for them.

‘I keep telling myself this is only temporary, I just need to keep going.’