Cancer Survivor's Day: Living with chronic pain after treatment

For Cancer Survivor's Day, we spoke to Callum, who continues to experience pain and discomfort after being treated for Hodgkin's Lymphoma as a teenager.

Callum's story

Five years after being treated for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at age 13, Callum still lives with chronic pain, fatigue, and mental health challenges.

Pain during cancer treatment is extremely common. “Before I was diagnosed, I started getting really bad shooting pain going down my right arm,” Callum explains. “This was later discovered to be because the tumours had grown so big - they were crushing the nerve to my arm.”

During the second cycle of chemotherapy, Callum’s nerve pain worsened. “I woke up one morning, and I remember just the sharpest pain I’ve ever felt in my life. It went from my spine, radiating all the way down to my legs.”

“I couldn’t walk, couldn’t take any steps. We had to call an ambulance, and I was then in the hospital for almost two weeks on bed rest.”

“It was diagnosed as neuropathic pain, likely caused by one of the chemo drugs I was having. My consultant told me that some other teenagers he was treating for the same cancer had also presented with similar pain.”

Physiotherapy helped him walk again, but the nerve pain became chronic. “I still have my crutches now,” he explains. “The pain is still there.”

Read his full story

Cancer pain research

In the last two weeks, we've launched a new funding call for research into The Impact of Cancer and Cancer Care on Human Biology and Health.

Cancer remains one of the main causes of death in the UK. While treatments and survival rates have dramatically improved in recent years, more research is needed to understand the impact of cancer treatments on overall health following remission.

Applications are welcomed from researchers at all levels of seniority - open to all UK-based researchers, clinical academics and allied health professionals at eligible institutions.

Applications are expected to be between £300,000 and £500,000 over a maximum of a 3 to 5-year period.

This funding call is open and will close at 12:00 BST on Wednesday 10 September 2025.

Find out more and apply