A WOMAN who turned radioactive due to extreme cancer therapy was forced to ask her girlfriend to sleep in the hallway.
Lucy Younger, 24, was diagnosed with a thyroid tumour last year which has led her to undergoing two surgeries and radiotherapy.
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The student was told she needed radio-iodine therapy which involved her reducing contact with her partner Ellie as the treatment would turn her radioactive.
Lucy, from London, would have to spend four days alone in a room and then would not being able to share a bed with anyone for nine days further.
She said: “To begin with, I thought it was just a tablet, and I remember thinking it was a great and easy treatment.
“For four days, I was alone in a room with only my clingfilmed mobile phone for company.
“I passed the time by starring out into the 13th floor view of London I had, I can almost recite the skyline now.”
She was placed into a room secured with two lead-lined doors and had to swallow a tablet through a long tube so she didn’t have to touch it.
Throughout the treatment Lucy was at risk of radioactive contamination and was at risk to anyone who came near her.
There was nothing to do but go on her climfilmed phone and she said her screen time went up to over six hours daily to distract her from her swollen neck form the treatment.
Due to Lucy having epilepsy, her mum was permitted to visit and bring a treat from the “outside world.”
“She would fill me in on her day, bring me a “Tunacado” sandwich from Jo & the Juice, put her PPE clothing on, and place it on the designated tray right by the door, where I would go grab it quickly.”
“As time went on, I started to feel less and less like a human and more like an experiment, reminding myself that this treatment was saving my life.”
Finally when Lucy was freed from her four days of “solitary” she was told she could not share a bed with anyone for nine days.
Lucy’s mum had already been exposed to radioactivity and so had to go into a bedroom, which meant Ellie was forced to sleep in the hallway.
She added: “At twenty-four, you do not expect to find yourself radio-active and to see your partner sleeping in the hallway to protect herself.”
“Neither you nor your partner are prepared to go through something so life-changing, and it strained our relationship.
“From sleeping in hallways to not being able to hug each other would test even the strongest marriages, let alone a young relationship.”
These arrangements were made slightly more difficult by Lucy’s epilepsy as Ellie had to keep an eye on her girlfriend but couldn’t hold her hand while she was having a seizure.
Radioactivity can be very dangerous as it puts individuals at a higher risk of getting cancers or affect fertility.
Ellie described the situation as lonely and bittersweet: “My girlfriend was home, but she wasn’t really home, and no one really teaches you what to do when someone has radioactivity in their body other than to stay away.”
This isn’t the first time Lucy had battled cancer and she was diagnosed with a brain tumour at 20 which lead her to have various MRI scans and craniotomy surgery.
When she was told she had thyroid cancer she thought she knew what to expect but didn’t realise quite how lonely the experience would be.
After two weeks Lucy returned to hospital to get her levels checked and was no longer radioactive, this meant she was finally able to hug her partner.
Radio-iodine therapy was described as an “isolating cancer treatment” which doesn’t get the same media attention that chemotherapy gets.
Even Lucy’s mum had to isolate for a few days after seeing her due to being exposed to radiotherapy.
She has since taken to TikTok to document her experience and wants to create space for a treatment that does not get much attention in the cancer space.
Lucy suggested, for those going through the something similar, MacMillian Radio-iodine as a great resource
She said: “This is the reality of living with cancer.
“It’s not just the patient.
“It’s the lives of those you love too.”
How cancer treatment can make you radioactive?
Cancer treatments that involve radioactive substances can make a patient radioactive because these treatments use materials that emit radiation.
Treatments like radioactive iodine therapy use materials that are radioactive.
These substances emit radiation in the form of alpha, beta, or gamma ray to kill or damage cancer cells
The purpose of using radioactive materials is to deliver a high dose of radiation directly to the cancer cells while minimizing exposure to the surrounding healthy tissues.
By placing the radioactive source close to or inside the tumour, or by using substances that target specific cells, the treatment can be more effective.
Because the patient can emit radiation during and after treatment, healthcare providers give specific instructions to minimise radiation exposure to others. This can include:
- Keeping a safe distance from others, especially pregnant women and children.
- Using separate bathroom facilities if possible.
- Avoiding prolonged close contact, such as hugging or sleeping in the same bed.
- Following specific guidelines for handling bodily fluids, as they may also be radioactive.
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