At just 27 years old, Mai Tran (name changed for privacy), a bright and ambitious marketing executive from Ho Chi Minh City, lost her life to late-stage thyroid cancer. Her sudden passing shocked friends and family, who remembered her as a healthy, energetic young woman full of dreams. What made her case especially heartbreaking — and alarming — was what doctors revealed afterward: a common bedtime habit may have contributed to the silent progression of her disease.
For months, Mai had been experiencing symptoms she dismissed as minor — a hoarse voice, occasional difficulty swallowing, slight neck discomfort, and unexplained fatigue. Like many young professionals, she led a busy life filled with work deadlines, social events, and constant phone use. Sleep was often sacrificed, and she admitted to scrolling on her phone for hours in bed every night before falling asleep.
Her condition worsened over time, but she kept putting off a checkup. By the time she finally visited a specialist due to a noticeable lump on her neck, the diagnosis was devastating: stage IV thyroid cancer, with metastases to nearby lymph nodes and her lungs. The doctors explained that although thyroid cancer is typically treatable when caught early, her case had advanced too far.
During her hospitalization, Mai’s oncologist noted a pattern seen increasingly in young patients: prolonged exposure to blue light from smartphones and laptops, especially before bed, may disrupt hormonal balance — particularly melatonin production — which plays a role in regulating the immune system. While blue light exposure alone doesn’t directly cause cancer, studies have suggested it can interfere with the body’s natural ability to repair cells at night, potentially contributing to the development or acceleration of certain cancers, including those of the endocrine system.
Additionally, poor sleep hygiene — staying up late, irregular sleep schedules, and chronic stress — can weaken the immune system and mask early warning signs of illness. In Mai’s case, her symptoms were subtle, and she attributed them to daily stress and lack of rest.
Her story has since gone viral on social media, prompting discussions among young adults about lifestyle, technology use, and the importance of regular health checkups. Health experts are urging people, especially women in their 20s and 30s, to pay attention to subtle changes in their bodies and to reconsider bedtime habits that might seem harmless.
Dr. Pham Quoc An, an endocrinologist at a major hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, said: “We’re seeing more young patients with advanced thyroid issues. Many of them lead fast-paced lives, rely heavily on devices, and ignore their bodies’ warning signs. It\\\’s not just about the technology — it’s the combination of stress, poor sleep, and neglecting early symptoms.”
Mai\\\’s parents have now started a foundation in her name, aimed at raising awareness of thyroid health and encouraging better nighttime routines. Their message to young people is simple but powerful: “Don\\\’t wait until it\\\’s too late. Turn off your phone, get enough sleep, and listen to your body.”
Her untimely death is a sobering reminder that even the smallest daily habits — when ignored — can have life-changing consequences.
Woman finally diagnosed with thyroid cancer after her weight gain was blamed on depression and ‘partying’ for years
Katherine Mech began experiencing symptoms at the age of 23, but it took her years to be diagnosed with thyroid cancer (Picture: Katherine Mech)
When Katherine Mech, now 33, began feeling unwell at the age of 23, she never could have known she’d spend years fighting to have her illness taken seriously.
It started with fatigue. Katherine, from Orlando, Florida, had been used to walking six miles a day with no problem, but one day felt so ‘overwhelmingly exhausted’ that she had to call her mum to pick her up midway through her daily walk.
Her mum took Katherine straight to the doctor, where she was sent for blood tests – but the results came back as normal.
Katherine then started gaining weight, slowly at first. Having recovered from anorexia, which she experienced as a teenager, she struggled with this.
But when Katherin went to the doctor, her weight gain was dismissed as the result of overeating, ‘partying’, and depression.
The assistant store manager at a jewellery store tells Metro.co.uk: ‘The physician’s assistant said I was fine and pulled out an illustration of a plate, to show me how much I should be eating.
‘She said I wasn’t a college student anymore, and I needed to stop “partying” like one.’
When she was 25, Katherine woke up choking on her own saliva.
‘I just couldn’t swallow it’, she says. ‘After a few minutes, it passed. I called the physician’s assistant the next day, and she said I probably had a throat infection.
‘I was given an antibiotic but it kept happening.
‘In ten months, I gained 40lbs even though I was living off of salads and SlimFast. She agreed to send me for more blood work but it was normal again.
Katherin was eventually told she had thyroid cancer and required urgent treatment (Picture: Katherine Mech)
‘I asked for an ultrasound and she said “Everything is fine. Let’s just up your antidepressant”.
‘I honestly thought I was going crazy. I would just sit and cry because I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I knew something was wrong but my bloodwork was normal so I thought I was just being a hypochondriac.
‘I starved, tried to exercise, but I just got more and more tired. It just got to the point where I felt exhausted by the most simple things.
‘My voice would cut out while I was talking and I would choke on everything’.
After years of struggling to get doctors to listen, Katherine finally got the help she needed when she met a doctor, who advised her to demand an ultrasound for the lump in her throat.
She’s glad she took that advice.
Katherine says: ‘I went to see my mum’s doctor who told me I needed to lose weight, that I had PCOS, and that he was going to up my antidepressants for the third time.
‘He said the chance of me having anything wrong with my thyroid at my age was slim to none.
‘I told him I wouldn’t leave until I had an ultrasound and he rolled his eyes before stepping forward to feel my neck. This was the first time anyone had done it in nearly three years.
‘He paused, and then said “Okay, you can have an ultrasound. But it’s probably nothing”.’
An ultrasound of her throat revealed what was really going on (Picture: Katherine Mech)
Four days before her 26th birthday, the nurse called to tell Katherine that there was a nodule on her thyroid and that she would need a biopsy.
On 10 September 2013, Katherine was told she had advanced papillary thyroid cancer.
‘I felt relieved, and angry’, said Katherine.
‘There was a lot of anger. It felt good to know I wasn’t crazy but to know I had been made to feel that way was too much to handle.
‘I wish I had confronted the doctors or sought legal action. It was suggested to me but I was just so angry and hurt that I didn’t want to face them.
‘It made me even angrier that my GP never checked on me, but the nurse did.
‘I was just so angry all the time – but then it turned into “okay, I have to get well again”.’
Katherine underwent a total thyroidectomy, where the whole of her thyroid was removed, as well as the surrounding lymph nodes.
After the surgery, she had to have three scans to check where the cancer had spread, and went through a gruelling period of recovery.
Katherine is now cancer-free, but has been left with no trust in doctors (Picture: Katherine Mech)
‘I was in isolation for a week at home, unable to be within 50 feet of everyone,’ Katherine says.
‘The treatment was hard. My mum was my caregiver and went to every appointment with me. To be put into a hypothyroid state means your body has no thyroid hormone in it.
‘I couldn’t regulate my body temperature, couldn’t work more than three hours a day and I felt so weak I couldn’t lift my head.
‘The doctor told me I would feel like I was dying within four days, and it hit me on day three. I had to be put on a special iodine-free diet before I could take the radioactive iodine.
‘My hair started falling out in clumps. This was all while my neck was still healing from the surgery. I just felt awful – but the worst part was the isolation.
‘The iodine made my saliva burn my throat and I threw up the first day. I had to clean up my own vomit because my mum couldn’t be anywhere near me. I would hear my dog sit outside my door and cry and I couldn’t be anywhere near her.
‘Thanks to my surgeon, he pushed everything through and I was declared cancer-free on 27 October’.
Thankfully, Katherine is now cancer-free – but she still struggles with knowing her illness was dismissed for so long, and that there’s a chance it could return.
She currently has a nodule in her thyroid bed that has been tested inconclusive with three biopsies.
‘It’s just a constant reminder that I might not always be cancer-free’, she said.
She has since lost the weight she gained, but has developed a number of hormone issues as a result of years of misdiagnosis (Picture: Katherine Mech)
Katherine’s surgeon believes she had had the cancer for at least ten years before diagnosis.
She said: ‘I remember he said I had the most diseased thyroid he had seen in someone under 60.
‘By the time a person shows symptoms, it means the spread has started. Being diagnosed earlier would have probably prevented spread as well as the need for radioactive iodine. I might have just been cured with surgery’.
Katherine has also been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and hypothyroidism. Due to her symptoms being dismissed for so many years, Katherine’s weight gain caused ‘numerous hormone imbalances’, including PCOS.
She said: ‘I am now infertile and have to control the PCOS with birth control, as well as watch my sugar and insulin levels. We found out that the thyroid cancer masked severe thyroid disease.
‘I’m now on Synthroid for the rest of my life to control post-surgical hypothyroidism. I also get tested every six months for parathyroid disease, calcium metabolism and prediabetes.’
Katherine believes she was misdiagnosed because she was a young woman with mental health issues.
‘I think my mental illnesses made them think I was overreacting,’ she said. ‘My surgeon and endocrinologist were both shocked. Neither of them could believe how advanced it was because it isn’t common.
She urges others to be ‘loud and demanding’ if they feel something is wrong (Picture: Katherine Mech)
‘My surgeon advised me to take legal action and I really wish I had.
‘Thankfully my colon was treated with the radioactive iodine. I haven’t had any lingering issues.
Right now the biggest concerns are the potential effects of radiation. I was told I am now more likely to develop cancers later in life – more specifically, leukemia.’
Katherine says that the impact her experience has had on her mental health is ‘hard to describe’.
For the first five years, she was just happy to be cancer-free. She has lost the weight she gained, and ran a 5k to raise money for cancer on the fifth anniversary of her surgery.
But now there’s a lingering anger that she has to face – and the fear.
‘The fear is something no one warns you about,’ she said.
‘My biannual appointments are so scary. Every time my voice is hoarse or I feel too tired I get scared.
‘The worst thing is that I will never trust doctors again. I trust my endocrinologist but that’s pretty much it. I have a hard time seeing a GP because I never trust them.
‘I just get these flashbacks of my doctor telling me I was fine, that I needed to lose weight and up my antidepressants. It’s like a trauma and I have dealt with it by talking to a therapist.
‘I’m actually going for a GP appointment next month and [my therapist] is helping me come up with coping strategies.’
Katherine says that the biggest advice she has for anyone else who feels they aren’t being listened to, or are being misdiagnosed, is to ‘not be afraid to be loud’.
She adds: ‘I knew there was something loud but I was afraid of offending people who were supposed to know better.
‘I was scared that people would think I was just being a jerk. So now I tell people to ask for second opinions.
‘I say to be loud and demanding because you know your body better than anyone.
‘If a doctor won’t listen, make them listen or find someone who will.
‘We’re taught as women to not fight or be loud – but we have to fight for ourselves.’
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Woman, 27, Died After Being Told She Was ‘Too Young\\\’ for Cancer. Here’s How Her \\\’Unnecessary’ Death Will Impact Future Patients
Jessica Brady died, three weeks after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis despite making more than 20 doctor\\\’s appointments
A new rule has been brought in for doctors in the U.K. after a 27-year-old woman died following a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, despite making more than 20 appointments with a doctor.
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, a “new life-saving patient safety initiative called Jess’ Rule” was rolled out across the National Health Service (NHS) in England, following the death of Jessica Brady , per a Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England press release shared on the U.K. government\\\’s website.
The rule means doctors across England now have to take the “three strikes and rethink approach” after patients make three appointments, in a bid to avoid “tragic” and “preventable” deaths like Brady\\\’s, according to the release.
Brady died after being told she had symptoms of long Covid and was “too young for cancer,” the BBC reported. She\\\’d started to feel unwell in the summer before her death, the outlet noted.
Brady\\\’s mom, Andrea, told BBC Radio 4\\\’s Today program that her daughter had been a healthy young woman when the COVID-19 pandemic hit , but her symptoms became “increasingly debilitating” over time, the BBC reported.
“She had unintentionally lost quite a lot of weight, had night sweats, chronic fatigue, a persistent cough and very enlarged lymph nodes,” Andrea said, per the outlet. “But because of her age, it was obviously considered there wasn\\\’t anything wrong.”
Brady had been in contact with six different doctors at her doctor\\\’s surgery, as well as having three face-to-face consultations with a family doctor. However, no referral to a specialist was made, according to the BBC. The family ended up making a private appointment, before being referred to a specialist, but it was too late by the time Brady had finally received a diagnosis.
The U.K. government\\\’s press release noted, “In the five months leading up to her death, Jessica had more than twenty appointments with her GP (general practitioner) practice but eventually had to seek private healthcare.”
“She was later diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma. With such an advanced disease there was no available treatment. She was admitted into hospital where she died three weeks later,” it added.
Brady was given the terminal cancer diagnosis in November 2020, and died three weeks later, just days before Christmas, the BBC reported.
Per the Cleveland Clinic, “Adenocarcinoma is a type of cancer. It starts in the glands that line your organs. Adenocarcinoma cancers can affect several areas of your body, including your lungs, stomach, pancreas and colon.”
“Treatment options include surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Survival rates vary depending on the location, stage and type of adenocarcinoma,” the site adds.
“The new initiative will ask GPs to think again if, after three appointments, they have been unable to offer a substantiated diagnosis, or the patient’s symptoms have escalated,” the U.K. government\\\’s release added.
It continued, “While many GP practices already use similar approaches in complex cases, Jess’s Rule will make this standard practice across the country, aiming to reduce health inequalities and ensuring everyone – no matter their age or background – receives the same high standard of care.”
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty The National Health Service (NHS) logo
Brady\\\’s mom, Andrea, said of the new rule, “Jess lived for just three short weeks following her terminal cancer diagnosis. Despite her shock and devastation, she showed unfailing courage, positivity, dignity, and love. Jess was determined that people should understand how desperately she had tried to advocate for herself and seek a resolution for her declining health,” per the release.
“In the bleak weeks following the loss of Jess, I [realized] it was my duty to continue what she had started. It has taken nearly five years to bring about Jess’s Rule. I would like to dedicate this initiative to all the young people who have been diagnosed too late,” she continued.
“It has only been made possible because of the people who have listened — politicians, medics, and the nearly half a million who supported the campaign,” Andrea shared.
The U.K.\\\’s Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, called Brady\\\’s death a “a preventable and unnecessary tragedy.”
“I want to thank her courageous family, who have campaigned tirelessly through unimaginable grief to ensure Jessica’s legacy helps to save the lives of others,” he said, per the release.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE\\\’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Streeting continued, “Patient safety must be the bedrock of the NHS, and Jess’ Rule will make sure every patient receives the thorough, compassionate, and safe care that they deserve, while supporting our hard-working GPs to catch potentially deadly illnesses.”
“I don’t want any family to endure the pain Jessica’s family have been through. This government will learn from such tragedies and is taking decisive action to improve patient safety,” he said.
The release noted that research showed “that younger patients and those from ethnic minority backgrounds often face delays in diagnosis of serious conditions, as their symptoms may not match typical presentation patterns seen in older or white patients.”
It also stated that analysis of NHS cancer data in the U.K. showed “that half of 16 to 24-year-olds required three or more interactions with a healthcare professional from a GP practice before being diagnosed with cancer, compared to one in five across the whole population,” citing a report from the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation.
NHS England did not immediately respond after being contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.
Read the original article on People
Young Woman Dies at 27 from Late-Stage Thyroid Cancer: Doctors Say It\\\’s Linked to a Pre-Bedtime Habit
At just 27 years old, Mai Tran (name changed for privacy), a bright and ambitious marketing executive from Ho Chi Minh City, lost her life to late-stage thyroid cancer. Her sudden passing shocked friends and family, who remembered her as a healthy, energetic young woman full of dreams. What made her case especially heartbreaking — and alarming — was what doctors revealed afterward: a common bedtime habit may have contributed to the silent progression of her disease.
For months, Mai had been experiencing symptoms she dismissed as minor — a hoarse voice, occasional difficulty swallowing, slight neck discomfort, and unexplained fatigue. Like many young professionals, she led a busy life filled with work deadlines, social events, and constant phone use. Sleep was often sacrificed, and she admitted to scrolling on her phone for hours in bed every night before falling asleep.
Her condition worsened over time, but she kept putting off a checkup. By the time she finally visited a specialist due to a noticeable lump on her neck, the diagnosis was devastating: stage IV thyroid cancer, with metastases to nearby lymph nodes and her lungs. The doctors explained that although thyroid cancer is typically treatable when caught early, her case had advanced too far.
During her hospitalization, Mai’s oncologist noted a pattern seen increasingly in young patients: prolonged exposure to blue light from smartphones and laptops, especially before bed, may disrupt hormonal balance — particularly melatonin production — which plays a role in regulating the immune system. While blue light exposure alone doesn’t directly cause cancer, studies have suggested it can interfere with the body’s natural ability to repair cells at night, potentially contributing to the development or acceleration of certain cancers, including those of the endocrine system.
Additionally, poor sleep hygiene — staying up late, irregular sleep schedules, and chronic stress — can weaken the immune system and mask early warning signs of illness. In Mai’s case, her symptoms were subtle, and she attributed them to daily stress and lack of rest.
Her story has since gone viral on social media, prompting discussions among young adults about lifestyle, technology use, and the importance of regular health checkups. Health experts are urging people, especially women in their 20s and 30s, to pay attention to subtle changes in their bodies and to reconsider bedtime habits that might seem harmless.
Dr. Pham Quoc An, an endocrinologist at a major hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, said: “We’re seeing more young patients with advanced thyroid issues. Many of them lead fast-paced lives, rely heavily on devices, and ignore their bodies’ warning signs. It\\\’s not just about the technology — it’s the combination of stress, poor sleep, and neglecting early symptoms.”
Mai\\\’s parents have now started a foundation in her name, aimed at raising awareness of thyroid health and encouraging better nighttime routines. Their message to young people is simple but powerful: “Don\\\’t wait until it\\\’s too late. Turn off your phone, get enough sleep, and listen to your body.”
Her untimely death is a sobering reminder that even the smallest daily habits — when ignored — can have life-changing consequences.