For Portia Cook, cancer took a year of her life away in an extremely dramatic fashion.
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The then 19-year-old had just started her first year studying Exercise Science at the University of Tasmania in 2018.
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She had joined the North Esk Rowing Club and was in full training when the disease struck.
"I was just feeling very tired," she said.
"I had moved from Hobart to Launceston to start uni and the training was pretty intense. I thought it was general fatigue, but then I found a lump on my neck, which grew and my GP sent me to have some biopsies done."
After a series of biopsies, CT scans, pet scans, ultrasounds and x-rays, Ms Cook's diagnosis wasn't definite until she had a lymph node removed.
In December she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and started the first of four sessions of chemotherapy on Christmas Eve.
I thought it was general fatigue, but then I found a lump on my neck, which grew and my GP sent me to have some biopsies done.
- Portia Cook
Fortunately, she is now on the mend and has even recommenced rowing training. Now 21, Ms Cook was also helped along the way by a Cancer Council Seize the Day Scholarship.
The program is aimed at Tasmanians aged 16-25 who have been impacted by cancer, to assist them in participating in post-secondary education or training.
Ms Cook said the scholarship was important because it enabled her to pay uni fees and buy textbooks and other resources that she might not have been otherwise able to afford.
Cancer Council Tasmania provides around $30,000 annually to the Seize the Day Educational Scholarship program.
Recipients are eligible if they have had a cancer diagnosis themselves or have been impacted by a parent, guardian, sibling or child who has been diagnosed with cancer.
Ms Cook aims to now finish her exercise science degree in Launceston and then study post-graduate physiotherapy interstate.
"The first half of this year was pretty quiet when we were online after COVID-19 hit the university," she said.
"Our assessments have been pushed back to the end of the year now, but we are getting through it all."
- For more information about the scholarships visit cancertas.org.au.