Mum and daughter hit by thyroid cancer diagnoses months apart after health workers thought they had menopause and asthma

A mother and daughter diagnosed with thyroid cancer just months apart have said health professionals initially put their symptoms down to the menopause and asthma.

Jessica Warrington, 31, has said she and her mother Sarah Voy, 53, both from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, “support each other more than ever” after their mirrored diagnoses.

After suffering from brain fog, mood swings, headaches, back pain and exhaustion, doctors initially told Jessica she might be entering early menopause until she was diagnosed in September 2024.

Four months later, Sarah, who had been living with a breathing condition and neck pain for several years, received the same “devastating” diagnosis.

Both underwent neck surgery to remove the tumours and Jessica has now been given the all-clear while Sarah awaits her final results.

United by their joint ordeal, the pair hope to encourage others to “get a second opinion” on their health issues.

“It’s awful to be given this devastating news and then hear your mum has it too,” Jessica, a healthcare worker, told PA Real Life.

“I would’ve much preferred for me to have all the cancer and deal with it alone.

“My mum is my best friend, she is everything to me – going through this together, we support each other now more than ever.”

Sarah developed symptoms in December 2019 when she began feeling unfit and breathless.

Within a year, she was struggling to walk up the stairs and she visited her GP who gave her an inhaler for possible asthma.

A fleshy lump then appeared on her throat and she started struggling to swallow food but her GP thought it was nothing serious.

It was during a trip with friends to the city of Lincoln when Sarah started thinking “something was dreadfully wrong”.

“They went on a walk and mum was crawling up the hill and gasping for air,” Jessica explained.

Later, in October 2022, Sarah had another scare while swimming with dolphins on holiday in Mauritius.

“Mum is usually a confident snorkeller but she was unable to breathe and nearly drowned,” Jessica said.

Looking for answers, Sarah decided to change GP and was immediately referred to hospital where doctors diagnosed her with subglottic stenosis, a rare condition where the windpipe narrows.

“When her airway closes, she feels like she is being strangled,” Jessica said.

Sarah underwent surgery but the lump in her neck kept growing to the size of a plum.

It was around this time when her daughter Jessica’s symptoms kicked in and she too visited the GP.

“The nurse said ‘everything you’re saying sounds like you have menopause’,” said Jessica.

“I said ‘hopefully not as I’ve just turned 30’.”

A mother to three children aged three, six and nine, who she did not want to name, Jessica later spoke to a junior doctor who suspected the issue could be linked to her thyroid.

“He did two blood tests which I will be forever grateful for,” she added.

The results showed abnormalities and further tests in September 2024 confirmed Jessica had thyroid cancer, needing surgery to remove a lump in the left side of her neck.

She said: “The first question I asked was ‘am I going to die?’ as I have three children at home who need me.

“The thoughts race through your mind and you’re left to deal with every possible scenario.”

Just four months later, in January this year, Sarah found herself in exactly the same scenario after doctors removed the tumour from her throat and tests confirmed she had the same cancer.

Jessica had follicular thyroid cancer, one of the most common strains which is highly treatable and often curable, while her mother Sarah has thyroid microcancer.

Describing her and her daughter’s ordeal, Sarah said: “What a journey me and my girl have been on but we have had each other.

“I’m forever grateful for her, my family and the amazing medical staff who took me seriously and saved my life not once but possibly twice.”

Jessica has been given the all-clear after going under the knife but Sarah is awaiting test results to see if her cancer has spread.

They will both be left with a scar across their neck for the rest of their lives.

Following their brave journey and determination for a diagnosis, they are raising awareness of thyroid cancer and encouraging others with concerns to get tested.

“If I could help just one person, that would mean the world,” said Jessica.

“Doctors always told me ‘you’re too young to have cancer’ but I had cancer.”

Her mum added: “Cancer cares not of age or who you are. If you feel ill and know your body, and something is wrong, push to be heard.

“Get second opinions until you are satisfied.”

The pair have set up a GoFundMe page hoping to raise £700 for the Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust which supports patients with the disease, which can be found at: gofundme.com/f/what-a-pain-in-the-neck.