Graeme Ogg was shaving one morning when he first noticed a small pea-sized lump just under his jaw.
The 48-year-old from Monifieth says it wasn’t sore and initially he didn’t think it was anything too concerning.
But Graeme, who runs his own business, Timber Tree Surgery, decided to mention it to his neighbour who is a doctor and she advised him to make an appointment with his dentist to get it checked out.
“I saw my dentist who thought it might be a blocked salivary gland and I was advised to go home and suck a lemon,” he explains.
“The lemon would clear whatever was causing the blockage and then it would be fine.
“But I ended up going back and forth to the dentist a few times.
“I was given a few courses of antibiotics and eventually referred to Dundee Dental Hospital.”
He continues: “They did an x-ray and from there I was referred to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
“I had an ultrasound and a biopsy from the lump was taken but it proved to be inconclusive.
“So they ended up taking another biopsy.
“Initially they thought the lump was secondary and that I might have a tumour in my brain.”
After further tests were carried out including CT, MRI and PET scans, Graeme was diagnosed with high grade B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) – a type of blood cancer.
The former Royal Marine sergeant reveals how the experience has affected him and changed his outlook on life.
When was Graeme diagnosed with blood cancer?
In December 2023 Graeme discovered the lump while he was shaving.
By the following February, he had had a few dental appointments and he remembers feeling very fatigued.
He was also having a lot of night sweats and had lost weight.
“By this point I had had a few courses of antibiotics from the dentist and been to the dental hospital.
“But I just knew something was wrong.
“I was referred to Ninewells Hospital where I had some scans done.
“Then in March 2024 my wife Lynne and I went to see an oncologist.
“I remember him saying to me: ‘Right Graeme we’ve got good news and bad news.
“‘The bad news is you’ve got high grade B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“‘But the good news is that it’s treatable’.”
What was Graeme’s reaction to his cancer diagnosis?
Graeme says the diagnosis came as a shock.
“I had a feeling it might be cancer so when I got the diagnosis it was a relief to find out exactly what it was,” he says.
“I first found the lump in December 2023 and since then we had been trying to find out what it was.
“And this was now towards the end of March the following year so it was a relief.
“But the diagnosis still came as a shock. I have always been fit and active.
“While I have had injuries and broken bones, I have never ever been ill. I get about one cold a year.
“So Lynne and I were devastated with the news.”
Graeme decided not to tell his sons Spencer, 12 and Ryan, 26, about his suspicions it might be cancer until he was officially diagnosed.
“We didn’t want to tell them what was going on without a path out and what the treatment was going to be,” he explains.
“We held off telling them as long as we could.”
He adds: “We didn’t tell the rest of the family until we could say exactly what type of cancer it was and what the treatment plan was going to be.”
Graeme’s cancer treatment
However, Graeme was given positive news when it came to his cancer treatment.
“My consultant told me because I had been so persistent in going back and forward to the dentist and the doctor, I was in the 10 per cent of people who had caught the cancer really early.
“He said this meant I would only need four sessions of chemotherapy.”
In April 2024 Graeme started his treatment and he had chemotherapy every 21 days over the next few months at Ninewells Hospital.
He reveals the toll it took on his body.
“Within two weeks of my first chemo session I woke up one morning and couldn’t understand why there was all this hair on my pillow.
“We initially thought the cat had been sleeping where I sleep in the bed.
“But when I went into the shower and washed my hair it all came out. I was really upset.
“The following day we got Spencer to shave the rest of it off. My hair only started coming back in at the end off November.”
Why did Graeme have radiotherapy?
Three weeks after his chemotherapy finished, Graeme was given the all-clear.
“I was absolutely delighted to get this news, really happy,” he says.
“But I was told that this is a disease which has a 60 to 80 per cent chance of returning, so they wanted to give me radiotherapy treatment.
“They said they could understand if I didn’t want it but they suggested I have the radiotherapy.
“I was absolutely having it.”
So near the end of September, the dad-of-two went on to have 15 sessions of radiotherapy at Ninewells.
“After the sessions finished Lynne bought me a bright red bell which I rang to say I was now in remission.”
Going back to work
Graeme took around 10 months off his arboriculture business, while he was having treatment for cancer, to focus on his recovery and regain his strength.
Last month he went back to work.
“I enjoyed being back at work but I was absolutely shattered,” he says.
“The first two weeks were a bit clunky because –Â Jack Renton, the young lad, who is brilliant, and works for me – and I hadn’t worked together for the best part of a year.
“It’s the kind of work you have to build back up to to be capable again, but I am getting there.”
Family support
Graeme is very grateful to his wife Lynne, 46, for all her support throughout his illness.
“Lynne has been amazing and my sons have been brilliant too.
“My mum and brother Stuart have also been really good – picking me up and dropping me off for chemo. Their support has meant a lot.”
He continues: “When you are told you have cancer you are suddenly faced with your own mortality.
“It’s not pleasant to be in that position and I wouldn’t wish chemo or radiotherapy on my worst enemy.
“It was horrible and I never want to go through it again – which why I opted for the radiotherapy.”
He adds: “It’s been a bit of a scare but hopefully we are now through it and out the other end.
“Life is too short so now I am really focused on my family and I just want to make sure my wife and my boys are ok.”
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