Inspirational cancer patient Caitilin hoping to help others

Caitilin Carroll, who turned 18 last month, has ovarian germ cell cancer - an extremely rare disease which mostly affects young women.

But she has taken her treatment - including kidney surgery and five rounds of chemotherapy - in such good humour that cancer charity CLIC Sargent has asked her to be one of its ambassadors and talk to people going through the same experience.

“It’s tiring when you’re in hospital for six or seven hours a day, five days in a row,” said Caitilin. 

“It’s not too bad. I try not to stress because that would make me more poorly. It’s so nice for CLIC Sargent to ask me to be an ambassador.

“It’s touching to think that I’ve coped well enough with my treatment to help other people through theirs.

“Hopefully, I could reassure someone by talking to them. I think it’s something I could be good at.”

Mum Michelle Bywater agreed that Caitilin had taken the illness in her stride.

“She’s doing fantastic,” said Michelle (57). “Some of these kids in hospital are terrified, but Caitilin has been just amazing.”

Thomas Rotherham College student Caitilin was diagnosed in March after mum Michelle rushed her to hospital when she came home one day with blue hands and feet.

“My hands, arms and nails had turned blue-grey,” said Caitilin. “I thought I was having a stroke because I had pins and needles. It was pretty scary.”

She added: “It’s a rare cancer and it mostly affects people around my age and a lot of the symptoms can be similar to hormones.

“My doctor didn’t know about it, so we need to raise awareness.”

Caitilin’s condition is so uncommon that American researchers are taking the chance to fly over and study her.

Michelle said: “We want to make every doctor  aware of this. It only takes a simple blood test to diagnose it.”

CLIC Sargent invites young people from across the UK to meet regularly and advise them on the work it does.

Rebecca Horder, participation manager, said: “Young people like Caitilin are at the heart of everything we do as a charity.

She added: “Many find that meeting other young people with cancer who understand what they are going through helps them feel less isolated and many friendships have been formed over the years.”