Instagram helped this Fareham woman battle cancer

Jasmine Goodall was diagnosed in September last year with stage four high grade B cell Non Hodgkin Lymphoma after months of suffering from headaches, severe stomach pain and feeling exhausted.

The 25-year-old from Fareham said: ‘In a strange way it was a relief because I finally knew what was wrong with me and my doctors said if I had left it a few more weeks it could have been a very different story.’

Jasmine was referred to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham and underwent six bouts of chemotherapy all while documenting her experience on her blog, Jasmine’s Quarter Life Crisis.

In one post she wrote: ‘My specialist nurse told me at the very beginning that each round of chemo was like running a marathon. “Pfft!” I thought, after number one and two had been easy.

‘But then number three came along and I started feeling a little less cocky. Then four occurred and I thought I was going to have to buy out Kleenex. Then five happened and I spent five days telling myself I didn’t want to live anymore.’

But Jasmine said the support she found online helped her.

She said: ‘I went on Instagram and there were so many people my age who were going through the same thing and it makes you realise you are not alone.’

On World Cancer Day and after finishing her last round of treatment, Jasmine also wanted to praise the care she received at QA.

She said: ‘I have never met such lovely people – the nurses are the friendliest people I have ever met and the house keepers always make time to have a chat and give me a hug.’

 While the staff at QA gave Jasmine the care she needed, she said friends and family were very important to her progress as well.

She said: ‘I would tell anyone don’t bottle it in, tell your friends and family because they are there for you so use them because you can’t do it alone.’

Jasmine is now looking forward to the future.

She added: ‘I have already begun holiday planning. I want to go to Switzerland with my sister and Portugal with my friends.

‘Not only that, I was given the exciting news that I will be maid of honour for my best friend’s wedding.’

Read Jasmine’s blog at jasminesquarterlifecrisis.com