Chloe Brightwell - More than a diagnosis

Life is full of highs and lows. When I first arrived at DMU in the September of 2017, I had no idea just what the next four years would have in store for me. 

Having been born and raised in Leicester, I was keen to stay in the city and always thought DMU looked clean, colourful and inviting. Of the Brightwell household, I’m the first to decide to go to university, and I will admit that I was initially quite nervous. I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

However, speaking to lecturers and students on the Open Day at DMU put my mind at ease and coming here was a no brainer for me.

I settled into my first year instantly, making friends on my Human Resource Management degree and rediscovering my passion for dance, which I had previously had to sacrifice for driving lessons while in college. Everyone at the university, from my tutors to my classmates and the DMU Dance society were so welcoming that all my pre-conceived worries seemed to simply vanish.

And that’s how it stayed for three years. 

I was living my best life at university and doing well in my course. Sure, the Covid-19 pandemic had abruptly cut my placement year at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, but with the combination of my course and experience in a real business environment, I secured a role in Eon’s call centre while in my final year. I also became a student ambassador – that’s how much I loved being at university.

Studying Human Resource Management at DMU has really allowed me to have a thorough view of the workplace. I feel it’s something my manager noticed as she discussed the opportunity of managing my own marketing and communications projects alongside a small team.

I was promoted to a managerial role before leaving university. Things couldn’t be going better. 

Then two days later, I received my diagnosis.

It didn’t come as a complete shock. In the summer of 2020, I noticed my skin was itching with no obvious rash. My doctors dismissed it as dermatitis. My skin started to bruise for no reason. Again, it was dismissed. My breathing was becoming heavier for no obvious reason. Once again, dismissed, this time as my childhood asthma returning with a vengeance. Soon I discovered lumps on my neck and jaw, and after putting my case to the doctors, I went to A&E where an ultrasound was arranged. 

When the results came back, I was told I had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I knew it was a rare blood cancer. I asked anyway. The confirmation was chilling. It was also worse than first feared. It was already at stage four. I was just 22. It caught a lot of people by surprise.

I was told to expect intense chemotherapy treatment and regular hospital stays, a prospect made even more daunting by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It took time to process. Eventually, my thoughts started to turn to my studies. I had worked incredibly hard to get this far. I was loving my course, made a host of new friends and was building a career. I was scared of losing everything I built at uni. I thought that was my degree done.

Thankfully, I needn’t have worried. When I called my course leader, he was so incredibly supportive and stressed that all my work would not be in vain. I agreed with the university to continue studying until I felt I physically couldn’t continue. 

My course friends were amazing too. They would share all their notes from lectures I missed, proofread all my assignments and even take notes while I was in my lectures because they knew I would sometimes struggle with my concentration. Most importantly though, they were themselves around me, which made me feel more like myself. 

As the chemotherapy treatment became more intense, I found that I had to put my health first and I felt I couldn’t finish my final modules. I had calculated that with my credits, I could just scrape a pass. I wanted more out of my education than to just pass, so the university agreed to estimate my remaining modules and give me the option of retaking them after my treatment. 

My degree might not be classified now, but I’m already looking forward to completing these modules later in 2022. 

DMU went above and beyond for me, my health and my studies, and for that, I will never be able to thank them enough. Everyone I’ve met through DMU has been nothing short of amazing and I’d like to thank them from the bottom of my heart for their support.

I finished my treatment on 18 August 2021. I rang the bell and walked out of the cancer ward. On 27 September, just before my 23rd birthday, I got the confirmation that I was cancer-free. It’s the best birthday present I’ve received.

Tuesday 16 November, I graduated from DMU. After the year I’d been through, nothing was going to stop me from walking across that stage. No matter what happens in my life, that will be one of my proudest moments. 

I’ve since returned to my managerial role and I’m really enjoying the work I do. The team at Eon have been so understanding and as a company, their views very much align with my own. 

I didn’t want cancer to define who I am, and with the help of my family, friends, DMU and Eon, I can confidently say that it hasn’t.