{"id":491115,"date":"2026-03-23T15:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/491115\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T15:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:52:12","slug":"i-was-told-my-scratchy-throat-was-just-a-chest-infection-my-real-diagnosis-was-shattering-and-if-i-hadnt-fought-doctors-i-wouldnt-have-survived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/491115\/","title":{"rendered":"I was told my scratchy throat was just a chest infection. My real diagnosis was shattering – and if I hadn’t fought doctors, I wouldn’t have survived"},"content":{"rendered":"

When 32-year-old Chantelle Asciak went to her doctor in February 2022 with a scratchy throat and chest pain, she was sent away with a prescription for antibiotics and a diagnosis of a chest infection.<\/p>\n

\u2019I\u2019d been getting really tired in the weeks leading up to it, but I had a busy job as a visual merchandiser, I was on my feet all day, and I thought it could be related to that, or possibly anaemia,\u2019 she tells Daily Mail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But when, after a month, the pain in her chest hadn’t got any better, Chantelle went back for a second opinion.<\/p>\n

\u2019By this stage, it was so bad at work that I was having trouble catching my breath,\u2019 she says. \u2019I just broke down at work and went straight to a respiratory clinic.\u2019<\/p>\n

In spite of Chantelle\u2019s obvious distress and past history, the respiratory clinic was more worried about Covid than anything else.<\/p>\n

\u2019I told them I\u2019d tested myself and was negative, but they tested me again anyway. In the end, they sent me away with more antibiotics for a chest infection.\u2019<\/p>\n

This pattern of dismissal from doctors continued over the course of the next few months, even in the face of worsening symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u2019It was suggested that it could be stress, or a hangover from having Covid,\u2019 says Chantelle, from Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In 2022, 32-year-old Chantelle Asciak went to the doctor with a persistent scratchy throat and chest pain. She was diagnosed with a chest infection and sent home with antibiotics<\/p>\n

\"'I <\/p>\n

‘I couldn’t sleep all night. I was in tears\u2026 I could barely draw breath and it felt like someone was choking me,’ Chantelle said of the symptoms doctors repeatedly dismissed\u00a0<\/p>\n

After\u00a0tests with her gynaecologist for her\u00a0endometriosis treatment revealed alarmingly\u00a0low iron levels,\u00a0Chantelle returned to her doctor and was told she was anaemic\u00a0\u2013 but still not offered any follow-up.<\/p>\n

By late August, with her face now swelling on top of relentless cold and flu\u2011like symptoms, Chantelle again sought medical help,<\/p>\n

\u2019By this stage, I couldn\u2019t lie flat in bed\u00a0\u2013 it felt as though something was crushing my chest,\u2019 she recalls.<\/p>\n

\u2019I told my mum, “I have to go to the doctor.” I couldn\u2019t sleep all night. I was in tears\u2026 I could barely draw breath and it felt like someone was choking me.<\/p>\n

\u2019When the ambulance arrived, they put it down to an anxiety attack, and put me on a telehealth call with a doctor who, again, diagnosed a chest infection.\u2019<\/p>\n

After another couple of weeks of anti-inflammatories and antibiotics, Chantelle\u2019s condition continued to worsen.<\/p>\n

Her face swelling was now so severe that she could barely see, her entire upper body was full of fluid, and she could not lie flat at all for the crushing pain in her chest.<\/p>\n

Desperate, Chantelle and her mother went back to the doctor\u2019s clinic, by which stage her old general practitioner had moved on.<\/p>\n

\"Chantelle <\/p>\n

Chantelle underwent a CT scan on September 8. The next day, she was told she had lymphoma, a blood cancer, and was sent directly to hospital for treatment<\/p>\n

\"Chantelle <\/p>\n

Chantelle was eventually diagnosed with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), a rare and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ‘I found out later that the growth in my chest – that was causing the pain and pressure – was the size of a small watermelon’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2019They finally ordered a chest X-ray, which I had, and then it was four days of me calling for the results and begging for an answer before they told me, “OK, come in.”\u2019<\/p>\n

When she presented again to the clinic, the only doctor available was a paediatrician\u00a0\u2013 who Chantelle says might just have saved her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2019He told me to stop taking the anti-inflammatories and go for a CT scan right away,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

\u2019I think he knew then what it was, but if he hadn\u2019t sent me for that scan when he did, I don’t think I’d be here right now.\u2019<\/p>\n

Chantelle had a CT scan on September 8. The next day, she was told she had lymphoma, a blood cancer, and was sent directly to hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n

\u2019My mum and I just broke down in tears when the doctors told us,\u2019 she explains, \u2019and then, it was all go. I had to organise my dog, Bobby, to be cared for, and I didn\u2019t know how long I\u2019d be in there, or even what kind of lymphoma I had.\u2019<\/p>\n

From there, things kicked into overdrive.<\/p>\n

\u2019They couldn’t get needles into my arms because my upper body was so swollen, so they had to put them in my groin and feet,\u2019 Chantelle says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Soon after being admitted to Royal Melbourne Hospital, then to the\u00a0Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Chantelle was transferred to ICU, because her back had stiffened up and her condition had deteriorated.<\/p>\n

\u2019I had two nurses behind me now from the Royal Melbourne holding me up on ten pillows to stabilise me for them to get a biopsy from the lymphoma that was in my chest.\u2019<\/p>\n

Before Chantelle\u2019s team even had a definitive diagnosis, they knew they had to do everything they could to reduce the growth.<\/p>\n

\"Chantelle <\/p>\n

Chantelle has now been in remission for almost three years and says:\u00a0‘The one lesson I’ve come out of this with is how important it is to advocate for yourself medically’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2019It was 2am, and the specialist came in, and they\u2019re like, “OK, we\u2019ve got two options. We can intubate you to help you breathe, but we’re not sure if it\u2019s gonna crush your heart. But then if we don\u2019t intubate you, you could still die, because we don\u2019t know if the chemo that we’re going to give you will be the right one because we still don’t know what kind of lymphoma you have.”\u2019<\/p>\n

As a result, Chantelle spent the following four days intubated, slipping in and out of consciousness. For her, it was the lowest point.<\/p>\n

\u2019It was so awful. It’s probably the most traumatic part, and ever since then, any time I have the thought of tubes going down my throat I panic.\u2019<\/p>\n

Chantelle was eventually diagnosed with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL)\u00a0\u2013 a rare, aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.<\/p>\n

\u2019I found out later that the growth in my chest\u00a0\u2013 that was causing the pain and pressure\u00a0\u2013 was the size of a small watermelon.\u2019<\/p>\n

The next few months were a blur of treatment, where Chantelle’s family, friends and faithful dog Bobby all gathered around to support her.<\/p>\n

\u2019Honestly, they were there every day. My brother would leave work and come over every time I had a panic attack. I just had so much support around me.\u2019<\/p>\n

It was during her first round of treatment that Chantelle also met fellow patient Sarah, a connection that felt like a ‘guardian angel’ appearing at her lowest point.<\/p>\n

\u2019Sarah had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma the week after me,\u2019 she recalls, though Sarah\u2019s disease had been caught much sooner after the onset of symptoms.<\/p>\n

Despite the differences in their clinical stages, they became an essential support system for one another, leaning on each other to navigate the fear and exhaustion that defined their daily lives.<\/p>\n

After seven rounds of treatment \u2013 from multiple forms of chemo to immunotherapy, CAR\u2011T therapy and even pioneering micro\u2011robotic surgery\u00a0\u2013 Chantelle finally received the call she had been manifesting: on World Lymphoma Day, March 6, 2023, she was told she was 100 per cent cancer\u2011free.<\/p>\n

\u2019I just burst into tears, because there had been times throughout treatment where I really didn’t think I was going to make it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Chantelle has now been in remission coming up to three years, and in spite of being in and out of hospital during 2024 for pneumonia and lung infections, and a relapse scare at the end of 2025 that ultimately proved to be a false alarm, she is hopeful about the future\u00a0\u2013 and dedicated to making life easier for others in her position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chantelle now dedicates her time to Lymphoma Australia, helping create the Aggressive Lymphoma Roadmap\u00a0\u2013 the resource she desperately wished she had during her six months of misdiagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u2019The one lesson I\u2019ve come out of this with is how important it is to advocate for yourself medically, whether it\u2019s a health issue you feel just isn\u2019t right, or even in the middle of treatment, if you think you need more answers, or more options,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2019I know that if I hadn\u2019t spoken up for myself, I might not be here. If I can make my experience matter to someone else\u2019s journey, I\u2019m going to keep speaking up.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When 32-year-old Chantelle Asciak went to her doctor in February 2022 with a scratchy throat and chest pain,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[428,97,59,102,655,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-491115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}