Young couple's wedding derailed by cruel turn of events

Roseanna Bricknell was backpacking in Europe when she began feeling unwell, but initially thought she was simply "burned out."

She'd also had a lump in her neck for "probably, at that stage, six months", but thought it was an enlarged lymph node "because I was fighting off a virus and my immune system was doing its thing."

It was 2022 and Roseanna had just finished her university exams ahead of a trip to Europe where she was scheduled to go backpacking with friends for three months.

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"The lump just kept getting bigger, and then I started getting more lumps in my neck," the Sydney woman says.

"I was like, 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel, I'm sure I'm fine'. I was 30, I was healthy."

Looking at a photo from that trip, Roseanna, now 32, says she can see the largest of the lumps in her neck.

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Symptoms persisted, but she continued to ignored them until she left the UK and flew to Texas for a friend's wedding.

While in Texas, she woke up one morning unable to move her shoulder and in extreme pain.

It was when she was back in Australia that a GP referred Roseanna to a haematologist for tests.

"And then we were sitting in the waiting room of the cancer centre and I'm sitting there feeling sorry for everyone else in the waiting room thinking, 'I must be the only person who doesn't have cancer'," she says.

Roseanna was told she likely had Hodgkin lymphoma, but further testing would be needed.

She struggled to process the news, made clear by a text she sent to her friend two days later, informing her of the bad news after missing a call from her.

"Sorry I didn't answer your call the other day. I was told this week I very likely have Hodgkin lymphoma but I need a diagnostic surgery to confirm and I've been process that information now that it's a bit more concrete," it read.

"I don't really know much yet as it isn't staged yet but it is a very good prognosis and Delta Goodrem obviously is now doing great so that's good."

Hodgkin's lymphoma was eventually confirmed

"I had a number of tumours around my neck. I had also a bunch of tumours in my chest area," she says. Roseanna also had an enlarged liver.

When her doctor confirmed the Hodgkin's lymphoma, Roseanna said: "Actually we're going to send our wedding invitations out tomorrow, can I still do that?"

Her doctor told her perhaps they should hold off. They postponed their wedding and lost the venue deposit.

In Australia today, 53 people will be told they have blood cancer or one person every 27 minutes.

Additionally, 16 people will lose their battle with the disease with blood cancer claiming the lives of more than 6,000 people each year.

The Leukaemia Foundation has found that blood cancers combined is the second highest cause of cancer related deaths in the country making blood cancer one of the nation's most deadly cancers.

Roseanna's lymphoma was deemed Stage 3 and aggressive treatment would be needed, including four months of chemotherapy.

She said it was "very hard" for fiance Sam to watch.

"It was all happening to me, and it affects his life massively as well, but also, he was kind of there as, in a way, a passenger," she says.

"My chemotherapy, because it was a very high dose, in the middle of your chemotherapy you have a scan to show how it's working and I got told in the middle of my treatment that I was looking like I was in remission."

Roseanna and Sam "both cried" at the news.

"It was such a relief because it meant that basically I could have a shorter treatment plan, otherwise it would have be much longer. "

Roseanna's last day of treatment was in April and she was declared in remission on May 22.

The couple were finally married this week.

"It's not all sunshine and roses," she says of her continuing recovery from both cancer and the effects of her treatments.

"But I'm on an upward trend and hopefully this continues.

"I want to have more days like this in a row."

The Leukaemia Foundation is encouraging Australians to dig deep and help by making a tax-deductible donation to the 2024 tax appeal. Go to leukaemia.org.au or call 1800 620 420.