Gym fanatic's back pain fobbed off as chair at new office job - until she was diagnosed with cancer
A gym fanatic claims doctors blamed the chair at her new office job for her back pain - only to discover she had cancer months later.
Lara Muller first began to experience a sore neck and back and developed a chest infection in December 2024.
At first the 'fit and healthy' 22-year-old thought nothing of her symptoms and continued to work out daily.
But when the business development manager's infection turned into a cough and she began to feel exhausted all the time, she went to the doctors to get herself checked out.
After having her bloods taken, Lara claims the GP put her exhaustion down to anaemia and said her back pain was due to sitting down all day at her new office job.
When her symptoms worsened, the events management and marketing graduate returned to her GP for a second opinion but claims she was given a higher dosage of iron tablets for her 'anaemia'.
She also began drinking more coffee and taking vitamin D supplements - but nothing could shake her exhaustion.
It was only when she coughed up blood after developing another chest infection in March this year, that a mass was found in her chest after undergoing an X-ray and emergency CT scan.
And following key hole surgery at hospital in June 2025, Lara was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma - a type of blood cancer.
Lara is now raising awareness of her signs and symptoms to ensure other people push for a second or even third opinion if they feel unwell as it could be something serious.
Lara, from Guildford in Surrey, said: "I felt like I was going crazy. I knew there was something wrong with me and I was just getting worse but no one was hearing it.
"Now I'm having treatment and I have solutions and answers, I feel 10 times better than I did when I was ill and not knowing what it was. But, no one prepares you to hear that you have cancer at 22."
The ordeal began back in December when she started to get neck and back pain and kept picking up chest infections, but didn't think anything of it at first.
Lara said: "I felt so tired all the time so I went to the doctors and they did my bloods and they put it down to anaemia.
"I asked about the back and neck pain and they said as I'd started a new job and I sat down in a chair all day, it was probably to do with that.
"I went back two or three more times [to the GP] because my symptoms got worse.
"I've always been really fit and active and into sports and at my new job I'd sit down all day so surely I wouldn't be getting that tired.
"I went back [to the GP] and they said I was fine and that I was still anaemic and they upped my dose in tablets.
"I went back to the doctors a third time as I started to get really dizzy and they told me it was down to the anaemia again.
"I would walk 10 minutes up the road and I'd be so exhausted from it and I thought this isn't right.
"I tried taking electrolytes every morning and was having more coffee and taking supplements to give myself energy and nothing was working.
"I booked an emergency doctor's appointment and they booked me in for a chest X-ray and they then wanted to book me in for an urgent CT scan as they found a big mass on my chest."
According to the NHS, Hodgkin lymphoma is an uncommon cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, which is a network of vessels and glands spread throughout your body.
It mostly affects people aged between 20 and 40 and common symptoms include night sweats, unexplained weight loss, itching and a persistent cough.
Alongside her cough, Lara said she also lost a lot of weight despite having to decrease her exercise routine due to her extreme exhaustion.
She has now completed her second round of chemotherapy and only has one cycle left before she hopefully will enter remission.
Lara said: "I started going to the gym less as I was too exhausted to go. I'd normally go four or five times a week and then I went down to once a week.
"There was a period of two months when I didn't go at all and I was losing weight and I thought this isn't right.
"If I was going on the leg machine I would lift 110kg and this went down to 50kg."
Lara is now raising awareness about her diagnosis to ensure others get themselves checked out if they feel something isn't right.
Lara said: "I would say keep pushing if you think something is wrong with you.
"I should have just trusted my gut instincts more as you know in your gut how you're feeling."