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By Jack Beresford and Savannah Meyer
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For nearly two years, I fought for someone to listen to me. I wasn't asking doctors to immediately tell me I was seriously ill. I wasn't asking them to assume the worst. I was asking them to recognize that something was wrong with my body and to keep looking when the answers I was given did not match what I was experiencing.
For 22 months, I had symptoms that were deeply concerning: swollen lymph nodes that persisted despite not being sick, unexplained weight loss, extreme fatigue, severe nausea, voice changes, heart palpitations, and other issues that continued to affect my daily life.
I also had a family history of cancer. My biological father died from cancer after initially being diagnosed with arthritis, and cancer has affected multiple members of my family. Yet time and time again, I felt like my concerns were minimized.
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The irony is that I never would have predicted my eventual diagnosis. Why would I? I wasn't walking into appointments convinced I had a specific condition or trying to tell doctors what was wrong. I was trying to understand why my body was changing. I was asking someone to look deeper, not because I knew the answer, but because I knew something wasn't right.
I kept hearing variations of the same message: I was too young for cancer, it was unlikely, or my symptoms could be explained by something else. I understand that many symptoms overlap with a wide range of conditions. I understand that anxiety, hormones, stress, and other diagnoses can cause very real symptoms. But what I want people to understand is that having those things does not make someone immune to a serious illness. Anxiety and cancer can exist in the same person. Being young and having cancer can exist in the same person. A person can look healthy and still have something dangerous happening inside their body.
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Cancer is not a rare, impossible disease that only affects older people. Approximately one in three women and nearly one in two men will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. That does not mean every symptom is cancer, and I am not telling people to live in fear. What I am saying is that cancer should not be dismissed simply because someone is young, has anxiety, or received normal results from initial testing.
The most painful part of my experience was not just the diagnosis. It was feeling like I had to convince people that I knew my own body. My previous primary care physician never suggested additional diagnostic testing. My lab results looked normal, my throat appeared normal during an exam, and I was reassured. But my symptoms continued.
Eventually, I made the decision to change primary care physicians. I found a woman who listened to me. I told her, "I know something is wrong with my body. I have been dismissed over and over, and I need to understand what is happening." She listened. She gave me options and explained that we could do a CT scan, which would provide clearer imaging in some respects, or an ultrasound, which was less invasive and more accessible. I initially leaned toward the CT scan, but something in me said, "Savannah, get the thyroid ultrasound."
That ultrasound changed everything. It revealed a malignant tumor on my thyroid, about the size of a grape. After years of wondering, I finally had an answer.
What makes this even more complicated is that when I later had a CT scan of my neck, the radiologist did not see anything suspicious. That experience taught me something important: people can fall through the cracks. No single test, appointment, or moment tells the entire story. That is why listening to patients matters.
Since sharing my diagnosis on social media, I have received thousands of messages and comments from people with similar experiences. Different ages, different illnesses, different cancers, but a common thread: they knew something was wrong, they felt dismissed, and they had to keep pushing for answers.
Being dismissed repeatedly can make you question yourself. It can make you wonder whether you are exaggerating, imagining things, or should simply accept that this is your new normal. There were moments when I felt defeated, not because I didn't care about my health, but because constantly fighting to prove that something was wrong was emotionally draining.
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I had surgery on July 7, and doctors successfully removed the tumor. However, post-surgical pathology raised concerns about lymphatic invasion, meaning the cancer may have spread to my lymph nodes. I have several upcoming follow-up appointments, including additional scans, to help determine the next course of treatment. If the cancer has spread, there is a chance it is currently too small to be detected, meaning I may require ongoing monitoring through regular scans. At this time, however, my doctors cannot tell me that I am cancer-free.
I know there are people reading this right now who feel that same exhaustion I felt. If you take anything from my story, please let it be this: don't lose your voice. Advocate for yourself. Ask questions. Seek a second opinion when something doesn't feel right. You are not being difficult. You are not wasting anyone's time. You are not a burden for wanting answers about your own body.
Healthcare should be a partnership. Doctors are experts in medicine, but patients are experts in their own bodies and experiences. We should be able to trust that when we walk into a doctor's office, we are being heard, not dismissed.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Rebecca Flood and Anthony Murray.
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