'I didn't look like me any more after cancer'

A fashion graduate has described how she struggled with her change of appearance after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 23.

Izzy Fletcher lost her hair during chemotherapy and also experienced other physical changes.

The former University of Southampton student said she initially avoided wearing a wig in order to show she had cancer, but sometimes felt she was treated in public as though she were invisible.

The Derby-native advised fellow patients to realise that body changes were not forever and "you can get back to being you".

The 25-year-old said: "I think that losing my eyebrows and eyelashes hit me hardest. I didn't look like me any more.

"In some ways, I preferred to be bald so that people knew. That made me feel more confident than pretending to be something that I wasn't."

After a year and a half of treatment, Ms Fletcher said she felt unattractive.

She added: "I found myself comparing myself to friends. We'd go for a coffee or dinner, and they would look lovely, and I felt like I didn't.

"My body had changed too and I remember my boyfriend asking me why I'd started dressing like a 50-year-old woman.

"When I went out in public, I found the way people treated me had totally changed too. I felt invisible. I got really down."

Ms Fletcher was speaking as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust's #StillMe campaign, which highlights the impact of appearance changes.

The fashion and marketing graduate said she found support from the charity and fellow patients online.

She advised fellow cancer patients: "Unfortunately, your appearance will change and you're going to have to ride the wave.

"But please know that you're not going to look like the way you do now forever and can get back to being you."

The charity said more than half of young people with cancer struggled to accept appearance changes.

However, it said access to specialist psychological treatment was a "postcode lottery" and many people who needed help were not supported.

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