I was told my scratchy throat was just a chest infection. My real diagnosis was shattering – and if I hadn’t fought doctors, I wouldn’t have survived

When 32-year-old Chantelle Asciak went to her doctor complaining of an itchy throat and chest pain in February 2022, she was sent to the hospital with a prescription for antibiotics and a diagnosis of a chest infection.

“I was really tired in the weeks before this but I had a busy job in visual merchandising, I was on my feet all day and I thought it might have been related to that or possibly the anaemia,” she tells the Daily Mail.

But a month later, when the pain in her chest had not gone away, Chantelle returned for a second opinion.

‘By this stage it was so bad I was having trouble catching my breath,’ he says. ‘I broke down at work and went straight to a respiratory clinic.’

Despite Chantelle’s obvious distress and history, the respiratory clinic was more concerned about Covid than anything else.

‘I told them I tested myself and it came back negative, but they tested me again anyway. ‘They eventually sent me back on more antibiotics for a chest infection.’

This pattern of dismissal of doctors continued over the next few months, despite worsening symptoms.

“It has been suggested it could be stress or a hangover from Covid,” says Chantelle from Melbourne, Australia.

‘I couldn’t sleep all night. “I was in tears… I could barely breathe and it felt like someone was choking me,” Chantelle said of the symptoms doctors repeatedly ignored.

After tests with her gynecologist to treat endometriosis revealed her iron levels were alarmingly low. When Chantelle returned to her doctor, she was told she was anemic but still was not offered any follow-up.

Towards the end of August, suffering from unrelenting cold and flu-like symptoms, as well as a swollen face, Chantelle sought medical attention again.

‘At this stage I couldn’t lie flat in bed; ‘I felt like something was crushing my chest,’ he recalls.

I said to my mother, ‘I need to go to the doctor.’ I couldn’t sleep all night. I was in tears… I could barely breathe and it felt like someone was choking me.

‘When the ambulance arrived they chalked it up to an anxiety attack and put me on a telehealth call with a doctor who also diagnosed me with a chest infection.’

After several more weeks of anti-inflammatory and antibiotic therapy, Chantelle’s condition continued to worsen.

The swelling of his face was now so severe that he could barely see, his upper body was filled with fluid, and he could not lie flat at all due to the crushing pain in his chest.

Desperate, Chantelle and her mother returned to the doctor’s clinic, at which point her former GP also took action.

Chantelle had a CT scan on September 8th. The next day he was told he had lymphoma, a blood cancer, and was sent directly to the hospital for treatment.

Chantelle was eventually diagnosed with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), a rare and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ‘I later learned that the growth on my breast that was causing pain and pressure was the size of a small watermelon.’

‘They finally did a chest X-ray, so I did it, and four days later I called the results and begged for answers, and then they said, ‘Okay, come in.’

When he returned to the clinic, the only doctor available was a pediatrician; Chantelle says it might have saved her life.

‘He told me to stop taking the anti-inflammatories and go for a CT scan immediately,’ she says.

‘I think he knew what it was then but if he hadn’t sent me for that scan I don’t think I’d be here now.’

Chantelle had a CT scan on September 8th. The next day he was told he had lymphoma, a blood cancer, and was sent directly to the hospital for treatment.

‘My mother and I burst into tears when the doctors told us,’ she explains, ‘and then everything went well. ‘I had to arrange for my dog ​​Bobby to be looked after and I didn’t know how long I would be there or even what type of lymphoma I had.’

From there, things went into overdrive.

‘They couldn’t get needles into my arms because my upper body was so swollen, so they had to put them in my groin and feet,’ says Chantelle.

Chantelle was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and then to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center before being transferred to the intensive care unit shortly after as her back stiffened and her condition deteriorated.

‘There were two nurses from the Royal Melbourne behind me, holding me up on ten pillows to stabilize me so they could take a biopsy of the lymphoma in my chest.’

Before Chantelle’s team could make a definitive diagnosis, they knew they needed to do everything they could to reduce the growth.

Chantelle has been in remission for almost three years and says: ‘The one lesson I’ve learned from this is how important it is to defend yourself medically.’

“It was 2 o’clock in the morning and the specialist came in and they said: ‘Okay, we have two options. We can intubate you to help you breathe, but we’re not sure if this will crush your heart. “But if we don’t intubate you, you could still die, because we don’t know if the chemotherapy we’re going to give you is going to be right because we still don’t know what type of lymphoma you have.”‘

As a result, Chantelle spent the next four days intubated, drifting in and out of consciousness. For him, this was the lowest point.

‘It was very bad. This is probably the most traumatic part and ever since then I’ve panicked every time I thought of having tubes going down my throat.’

Chantelle was eventually diagnosed with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), a rare, aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

‘I later found out that the growth on my breast that was causing pain and pressure was the size of a small watermelon.’

The next few months were a process of recovery as Chantelle’s family, friends and her faithful dog Bobby rallied to support her.

‘Honestly they were there every day. Whenever I had a panic attack, my brother would come home from work. There was so much support around me.’

Chantelle also met fellow patient Sarah during her first round of treatment; it was a connection that felt like a ‘guardian angel’ emerging at his lowest point.

‘Sarah was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma a week after me,’ he recalls, but Sarah’s disease was caught much earlier than the onset of symptoms.

Despite the differences in their clinical stages, they became an important support system for each other, leaning on each other to overcome the fear and exhaustion that defined their daily lives.

After seven rounds of treatments, from various types of chemotherapy to immunotherapy, CAR‑T therapy, and even pioneering microrobotic surgery, Chantelle finally got the call: On September 19, 2023, she was told she was 100 percent cancer-free.

‘I burst into tears because there were times throughout treatment when I didn’t really think I could make it.’

Chantelle has now been in remission for close to three years, and despite being in and out of hospital with pneumonia and lung infections in 2024 and a recurring scare that turned out to be a false alarm in late 2025, she is hopeful for the future and dedicated to making life easier for others in her situation.

Chantelle now devotes her time to Lymphoma Australia and helps create the Aggressive Lymphoma Roadmap; It’s the resource he desperately wishes he had during six months of misdiagnosis.

‘The one lesson I’ve learned from this is how important it is to advocate for yourself medically, whether it’s a health issue you don’t think is right or in the middle of treatment if you feel like you need more answers or more options,’ he says.

‘I know I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t speak up for myself. If I can make my experience important to someone else’s journey, I’ll keep speaking up.’