A 34‑year‑old woman dismissed stage 3 cancer as “sitting too long.” Courtney Liniewski, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, brushed off the pain she felt, only to have heartbreak strike months later. Now, she wants to warn others and raise awareness about the one symptom she assumed was nothing.
At the end of 2021, Courtney Liniewski felt something was off. For months, she had back pain, but she initially dismissed it, blaming it on sitting too long at her desk.
“I was experiencing intermittent back pain, but it was really sharp and intense,” she told Unilad. “It was right below my shoulder blades, in the mid‑sternum area in my back. I just thought I wasn’t moving enough and I was being lazy. I sat down a lot for my job and was at my desk most of the day.”
By January, Courtney’s symptoms increased, but they didn’t seem connected. She began losing hearing in her left ear, and her nose was constantly running.
The “weird symptoms” didn’t add up, and she knew something was wrong. In January 2022, Liniewski woke up after what she described as a loud bang in her head.
According to Newsweek, she managed to fall back asleep, but when she went to work the next morning as a crisis counselor at an inpatient psychiatric hospital, she noticed her face had drooped.
A colleague rushed her to the emergency room, fearing a stroke. But brain scans came back normal. Because she had a history of migraines and anxiety, she was sent home.
She accepted the results — until everything changed a month later. Courtney developed chest pain and couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without losing her breath.
In February, during a vacation to Mexico, her life was saved. On the first morning of the trip, she woke up with a large lump on her neck.
“My immune system was clearly reacting to travel or stress. I’ve always been prone to getting sick when I travel, but this time it was like my body finally showed me something. The lump was about 4.1 cm, and it’s what led to my diagnosis,” she told Newsweek.
“Without it, I wouldn’t have met the criteria typically associated with my type of cancer. I don’t fit the demographic, since it usually affects elderly white men.”
Wants to help others identify red flags
Liniewski was diagnosed with Grade 3B Follicular Lymphoma, a rare type of non‑Hodgkin lymphoma that accounts for roughly 20 percent of cases in the U.S. It’s typically slow‑growing and usually affects adults around age 60, according to the American Cancer Society.
Without treatment, Courtney would have died within a month. Fortunately, her cancer was treatable. Today, she is three years cancer‑free, though she still has regular check‑ins with her oncologist and worries about recurrence.
Now, she hopes her story helps others recognize unusual symptoms and seek medical attention sooner.
“You can’t stop pushing for it [a diagnosis] because cancer care has come a long way and people are surviving cancer significantly more than they used to,” she told Unilad. “I think people should know that it’s okay to advocate for yourself if something is wrong.”
Congratulations on being cancer‑free, Courtney — and thank you for helping others. Please share this article on Facebook to spread Courtney Liniewski’s story.
