As a 42-year-old Indian Hindu with a wife and one-year old daughter, I found it hard to find others going through the same experience after my diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in 2022.

I wanted to share my experience to support others like myself and to raise awareness of lymphoma – particularly amongst men and ethnic minority groups. Men struggle to talk about health-related issues, including cancer. There are so many men (especially in ethnic minorities) that go through cancer alone and it doesn't need to be this way.

My main source of information when I was diagnosed came from Lymphoma Action. Their books and information are so helpful, but I found it difficult to find someone else like me who had been through a similar experience. I wanted to hear real stories from real people- sharing my story gives me the ability to help others through the fear and uncertainty that comes with cancer.

Now I am in remission, and with a new addition to my family, I am keen to share my experience with them too so they have an awareness about lymphoma, and health related issues more widely. I didn’t know that lymphoma was a type of blood cancer, and after researching it I was really surprised by just how common it is. Now, I’m making it my duty to raise awareness and talk about cancer to my children, so they can be armed with the knowledge that I didn’t have in the beginning.