Copyright dailyrecord
A bride-to-be who blamed her aching shoulder on hunching over while making DIY decorations for her big day was devastated to learn she had blood cancer . Shannon Frost, 31, was staying up into the early hours preparing for her wedding to husband Richard, 31, when she noticed the discomfort getting worse. Following the ceremony on August 5, she contacted 111 on September 3 and went to hospital with what she thought might be a blood clot, but medics told her it was a frozen shoulder. Shannon underwent another blood test at her GP and received a call the next day on September 11 urging her to head straight to A&E as her inflammatory markers were a 'huge concern'. CT scans and a biopsy on a 12cm wide lump in her chest later revealed on September 13, 2024 that she had non-Hodgkin Lymphoma – a form of blood cancer that occurs in the lymphatic system. The lump was pushing on a nerve in Shannon's diaphragm that was linked to her shoulder, triggering her severe pain. Following six rounds of chemotherapy at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, Shannon entered remission in February 2025. Shannon, a customer success account manager, from Wolverhampton, said: "It was running up to the wedding in August which for us is a mad time anyway with five family birthdays all within a week of each other. "Throwing a wedding on top of that was really stupid to be honest. I did a lot of DIY for the wedding and I was up until 3am crafting using a craft knife and I had pain in my shoulder but I put it down to that purely because I was hunched over so much. "I went for a blood test and then I was up in Newcastle for work. My GP was ringing me from their personal mobile. She said my inflammatory marker was over 2,000 and anything over 500 is a huge concern. "She said I need you to go to A&E now you've 100 per cent got a blood clot you need to ask for this injection for a blood clot immediately upon arrival. "They gave me the injection and said go back to your hotel and come back for 8am but while you're here let's do an X-Ray. I got to hotel but didn't even get out of the taxi before they rang me back and the nurse said can you come back to the hospital. "I went back and they were waiting at the door and she said, 'your entire chest is a tumour we need to admit you right now'." Shannon and her husband Richard, a business development manager, tied the knot on August 5, and she experienced no pain on the big day. Despite being diagnosed with a frozen shoulder at A&E, Shannon requested a blood test at her GP. She said: "I did work the Wednesday and felt fine. I said to a colleague imagine if it was cancer it would just be my luck. I went out for dinner, got into bed at my hotel and the phone rang." Shannon received an injection at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle to treat a suspected blood clot on 11 September, but was called back after X-Rays revealed a large mass in her chest. She said: "I had to phone my manager and said you'll have to check me out of hotel, and he came and sat with me. They never mentioned lymphoma or cancer. They just said there's a mass there – a dense mass and we can't see through it. We need to know what it is. "When my mum had breast cancer she had lymphoedema so I thought it was that. The day after they did a biopsy said it's a lymphoma and they must have thought I took news well. "After my results they said I'd have to start chemo which is when I realised. It just didn't click before then because I'd never heard of it. "I'm a mum and thought my only option is get better and get better fast. Even when I laid down and had my final pet scan it was like, 'I know I'm cancer free'." As a remission gift, her father Steve Blanks, 57, wrote Shannon a book about her hair loss after her daughter Ophelia, five, struggled to understand her mum's new look. She said: "Her friend came over for a play date and they were trying on wigs. Her friend said, 'I'm Ariel'. She got comfy with it. It was almost like, 'If my friends are ok with it so am I'." The book 'My Mum's a Chameleon' has been purchased by The Royal Wolverhampton and Shannon's local Waterstones branch.
