A woman was diagnosed with cancer while getting ready for a first date – after alarm bells rang for the first time as she enjoyed a drink in a pub garden.
Lauren Firenze was sipping a glass of white wine when she felt a sudden searing pain shoot through her neck and shoulders.
Just 24 years old, she assumed it was something like a pulled muscle, but after a few sips of a G+T at a bar a week later, it returned – and continued whenever she drank alcohol.
Lauren went to the doctor and underwent bloodwork and scans, which found two masses in her chest and right lung.
As she was getting ready to meet her now-husband for the first time, Lauren received the shocking diagnosis of stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer.
“I couldn’t believe it – I was only 25, and the only symptom I’d initially had was the strange reaction to drinking alcohol, and a persistent bad cough,” the cancer advocate, podcaster and classical singer, who lives in London, told Need To Know.
Lauren, now 32, had been in good health before the bizarre reaction to alcohol cropped up.
She said: “I was sitting in the pub garden enjoying drinks with friends when this excruciating pain shot through my body.
“I’d been spending a lot of time in the gym so I assumed I’d pulled a muscle.
“When I got home I had a hot shower and it gradually got better.
“The pain only lasted a couple of days and I quickly forgot about it as I immersed myself in my job and carried on as normal.
“Around a week later, I popped to a bar for a gin and tonic when the same thing happened again – a few sips of alcohol and the pins and needles pain shooting down the right side of my neck to my fingertips was awful.
“One second I was chatting to my friend and the next I was in complete agony.
“l was left with severe pins and needles and painkillers didn’t really help it.
“The pains continued consistently every time I had a drink so decided to cut out alcohol and noticed that the pain disappeared and I didn’t really think any more of it as I was so busy.”
After a spell of not drinking, Lauren went to a friend’s house for a Christmas drink in late 2018 – a few months after the pub pain appeared – and after just one sip of Bailey’s the symptom cropped up again.
She said: “It was the worst reaction I’d had so far.
“I’d only had the tiniest sip and my arm went numb, it was really scary.”
Lauren went to the doctor in early 2019, and her blood work showed an issue.
By then, she had developed a chesty cough, too.
While a chest X-ray was all clear, Lauren went in for a CT scan – which found the masses near her chest and right lung.
She knew the issue was serious, but was awaiting biopsy results and a PET scan to confirm what her diagnosis was.
Due to a staff mix-up, Lauren found out via a fertility clinic, who mistakenly rang her to schedule her for fertility treatment – not knowing she had not yet received the results.
Lauren said: “My heart completely sank.”
Her early symptoms proved rare, too, with Lauren’s consultant saying he had only heard of five other people in the world presenting with the same reaction to alcohol.
Lauren was in shock, both by the diagnosis and its advanced stage, and contacted her date, Danny, to see if he wanted to cancel as a result.
Instead, he arrived at her house that evening with flowers, and became a huge source of support over the years of treatment that followed.
Danny, 26, said: “When I found out about the diagnosis, I knew instantly that whether it worked out or not down the line, at least she’d have a good friend out of it as well.
While Lauren thought it would be “daunting” – especially given Danny is six years younger than her – he didn’t shy away from her news.
Danny added: “I knew that it required a bit more commitment earlier on, but I was also OK with that.”
After her diagnosis, Lauren started fertility treatment to freeze her eggs, and underwent three months of intense chemotherapy.
All the while, she and Danny continued dating.
Lauren said: “Dates consisted of really easy light activities like watching movies, sitting in a coffee shop and I’d always wear my wig with him as it made me personally feel normal and more me with him.
“His support was incredible.
“Since the day we met, we’ve text every day and he used to call me and check in.
“When I was in the hospital, really weak and ill, he’d call me and say ‘I can tell you’re not feeling great and can’t talk so I’ll just play you some music’, and I’d cry, laugh, and fall asleep to him playing guitar over the phone late at night through my noise cancellation headphones.
“I’m the luckiest girl.”
Thankfully, Lauren went into remission in 2021, and has remained stable since – with the loved-up couple going on to get engaged in January 2025 and married that November.
They sped up the ceremony to include Danny’s father, who had been diagnosed with incurable and terminal bowel cancer that month.
Lauren said: “I made the decision with Danny that why wait until 2027 when we’d planned to get married, as life is literally too short and it was so important to me that his dad was there for him when we got married.
“After the news of it [the cancer] being terminal, I pulled together a wedding in three days!
“His dad couldn’t leave the hospital so we bought the wedding to him.
“I called the hospital’s chapel room and the celebrant was incredible and hosted it in there.”
Since entering remission and her health stabilising, Lauren has been on a mission to build a ‘cancer community’ – starting her podcast, F THE NOISE, in 2023 and interviewing those who are living with or have been affected by cancer to share their personal experiences.
She said: “I share things I wish I’d known and in my podcast and on the page, share advice so other people feel less alone.
“F THE NOISE is for everyone and anyone affected by cancer, from nurses to loved ones supporting someone with cancer, to cancer-curious people and patients.”
She has also been working with the British government, attending events with the Department of Health and Social Care to influence how cancer is promoted in the media.
Lauren added: “It’s crucial to me that patients like myself with lived cancer experience are in those rooms to help share points of view to impact and truly relate to those affected by cancer.”
Looking to the future, Lauren plans to continue her work and hopes to start a family with Danny one day.
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