My vodka habit led me to discover cancer at age 22: Every sip caused a specific ‘roaring’ pain… but it wasn’t the booze that was killing me
Claire Dougherty was like any other 22 year old – she enjoyed going out with her friends and indulging in a cocktail or two.
But in August 2025, she suddenly began experiencing pain in her throat and breathlessness when she drank. Every sip of alcohol caused ‘roaring’ pain in her neck. She dismissed it as an intolerance to vodka and switched to wine and gin.
‘It was all of this pain in the base of my neck on the left side and travelling up my neck into my left ear,’ Dougherty, a medical assistant from from Philadelphia, told the Daily Mail. ‘It felt like the most painful spot was my inner ear, I assumed that it was an ear problem that was then causing pain in my neck.
‘I noticed that the front of my neck felt tense and maybe a little swollen and a little painful to touch. I just assumed that it was a lymph node, if anything, associated with the ear pain, so I wasn’t that concerned about it.’
However, no matter what she drank, the pain worsened each time and she eventually saw a doctor who prescribed allergy medications, which did not help.
In September, she felt a lump in her throat. The next month, doctors conducted a CT scan and a biopsy.
In November, Dougherty was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer that can spread quickly if left untreated.
Dougherty realized that her pain and breathlessness were actually signs the tumor was slowly crushing her trachea.
Dougherty, a medical assistant, initially assumed her symptoms were related to an ear problem. She described pain starting at the base of her neck and traveling up into her left ear, with the inner ear the most painful spot
Dougherty, a medical assistant from from Philadelphia, was like any other 22 year old before her diagnosis
Dougherty said: ‘For a little bit every drink was a vodka drink so I kind of told myself maybe it was something [to do] with vodka.
‘[I thought] I had an intolerance to vodka but then eventually I had a gin drink and a wine and they made it hurt too so it didn’t really matter what alcohol it was.’
For months before her diagnosis, Dougherty continued to drink socially with her friends, fighting through the pain each time.
She said: ‘It was tough because I had no reason I couldn’t be drinking, but it would make everything so much worse.
‘I was very in my head about it and I got nervous every time I would drink because I was worried that it would make it [the pain] bad.’
Doctors chalked it up to allergies. Pain in the inner ear and neck can easily be caused by fluid buildup or eustachian tube dysfunction, often linked to allergies or sinus infections.
Too much alcohol also weakens the immune system, making a person more likely to get ill – something Dougherty and doctors might have put her symptoms down to.
Lymph nodes in the neck also frequently swell in response to infections or allergies as the body fights off perceived invaders.
To a doctor, feeling a slightly tender node would look like a typical immune response.
For months before her diagnosis, Dougherty continued drinking socially, fighting through the pain each time. She grew anxious every time she went out, worried the pain would return
In October 2025, doctors performed a biopsy, removing a small sample of the lump in her neck to send for testing, the first step toward her diagnosis
Claire began chemotherapy on December 3, the start of a grueling six-round journey she completed on February 11, 2026
Between 8,000 and 9,000 Americans are diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma each year, making it a rare type of cancer. It is however the most common cancer among 15- to 19-year-olds, and rates peak in people 18 to 34.
Dougherty was stage two, which has a high average five-year survival rate of about 90 percent, but doctors still initiated an aggressive treatment plan.
She began her first round of chemotherapy on December 3, the start of a grueling treatment journey.
She would go on to complete six rounds in total, finishing on February 11 this year.
Now, with chemo behind her, she is waiting to begin 20 sessions of radiotherapy focused on her neck.
‘Luckily I don’t need surgery,’ Dougherty said.
Hodgkin lymphoma begins in white blood cells called B lymphocytes, which normally fight infection.
When genetic changes occur, these cells transform into large, cancerous cells called Reed-Sternberg cells that define the disease.
The cancer typically starts in lymph nodes, most often in the neck and spreads in a predictable pattern from one lymph node group to the next.
Now, with chemo behind her, Dougherty awaits 20 sessions of radiotherapy focused on her neck
As it progresses, it can move to the spleen, bone marrow, liver and lungs. Advanced disease often causes fever, drenching night sweats and unexplained weight loss.
Dougherty breathes much better after undergoing chemo. The treatments rapidly shrank the tumor that was wrapped around and crushing her windpipe, relieving the pressure on her airway.
She is now urging others to be their own advocates by insisting on every available test and scan, even though it can feel uncomfortable or exhausting.
‘I hated going and getting all of the testing done but it’s worth it to know what’s going on in your body and to get that peace of mind,’ she said.
