In June 2018, Katie Tombs and her boyfriend Brad were packing up their flat, ready to embark on a round-the-world trip of a lifetime. Surrounded by folded clothes and open suitcases, the scale of their adventure began to sink in
While clearing out a drawer, Katie stumbled across an indoor skydiving voucher from her brother – a forgotten gift from the year before.
‘I checked the date and we had about three weeks left before it expired. I knew indoor skydiving isn’t cheap so I booked in to go that week,’ Katie, now 35, originally from the UK and living in Sydney, told Daily Mail.
A few weeks later, Katie woke with a sharp pain in her arm and realised she couldn’t lift it above her head.
Thinking it was an injury she’d picked up skydiving, she booked a physio appointment to have it checked before heading overseas.
The physio sensed something was off and urged her to get an MRI, just in case there was an issue with her spine.
Thanks to private health insurance, she saw a specialist quickly and received her MRI results over the phone.
They told her: ‘The good news is there’s nothing wrong with your spine. The bad news is we’ve found the edge of something else.’
Katie Tombs was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 27 after an MRI for an unrelated issue revealed a lump in her neck
By sheer chance, the MRI machine was slightly misaligned, capturing a sliver of Katie’s neck along with her back.
The scan revealed a small lump in her neck – completely unrelated to her arm pain. It was thyroid cancer.
‘I had no idea what it was and didn’t know how important the thyroid was in the body – it impacts everything,’ Katie said.
The lump wasn’t visible, and Katie had no other symptoms, nor any family history of the disease.
‘It was my last day of work on a Friday [after resigning] and we had already moved out of our flat to live with my brother temporarily. At 10am, I went to get the results. I remember it vividly: “You have cancer,”‘ Katie said.
‘One of the girls at my office texted me asking if everything was okay. I said: “No, it’s not. Can you gather my stuff from my desk and get the head of HR in a meeting room for when I come back?”
‘When I got back to work, I told them. “There’s no easy way to say it, but things aren’t good and I need some help. I’m jobless, homeless and I have cancer. I’m not going travelling, I need to deal with this.” They were incredibly shocked but supportive.’
What should have been a farewell day with champagne and a leaving card became one Katie will never forget.
The lump wasn’t visible and Katie, pictured with her boyfriend, had no other symptoms or any family history of the disease
‘My employer reinstated me straight away, which meant I kept my private healthcare and could stay in the UK for the six months of treatment I needed,’ she said.
Katie returned to her brother’s place to break the news to her family, who frantically googled ‘thyroid cancer’ – but Katie didn’t.
‘I didn’t want to know, and I didn’t want to be a statistic. The internet often isn’t a good representation of what reality is, either,’ she said.
She was referred to a specialist, who ordered a CT scan and biopsy on the lump, which confirmed their suspicions.
At 27, Katie was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer – the most common type and one that responds well to treatment.
An ultrasound revealed the cancer had also spread to lymph nodes in her neck.
‘To be honest, I wasn’t terrified. It was scary and I shed a few tears, but I was in good hands. And I believe everything happens for a reason – it was meant to be found.
‘If I didn’t find that indoor skydiving voucher, see the physio, or if the scanner was aligned correctly, it never would’ve been found.
‘I went into planning mode – appointments to make, somewhere to live. I felt like I was high-functioning. It was all happening so fast, I didn’t have a chance to take it all in.’
With the trip cancelled, they secured a refund on their one-way flight. Meanwhile, Katie moved back in with her parents for support.
Katie underwent a full thyroidectomy – removal of the thyroid gland – along with a right neck dissection to clear the tumour and affected cells. She also had radioactive iodine treatment, followed by months of monitoring and recovery. The process took six months.
By March 2019, Katie and Brad finally set off on their travels – six months exploring Asia, New Zealand and Fiji. They returned to the UK for eight weeks, where Katie scheduled follow-up check-ups with her doctors.
Now living without a thyroid, Katie takes daily medication – a constant reminder of the battle she fought in her 20s.
‘Life absolutely goes on after thyroid cancer and healing doesn’t end the day treatment finishes. It’s the aftermath that changes your life, drawing focus on health and wellness, physically, mentally and spiritually,’ Katie said.
‘Getting back to the planned travel became a big part of that process. It gave me a chance to finally slow down, sit with the weight of everything that had just happened over the past six months.
‘I rediscovered joy and gratitude in nature and new places, which helped me reconnect with myself and with life again. For that, I am forever grateful.’
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