Hello, my name is Tony. I'm 16 years old, and I've been diagnosed with cancer. I live in Finland, so my English might not be all that great, but I hope I don't get too many important things wrong.

I just got the call from the hospital today. I've been waiting on a diagnosis and posting to the pre-diagnosis section of this forum for over two weeks now, but now I finally got it. I've been diagnosed with Nodular sclerosis Hodgkin's lymphoma. It should be very well treatable and the risk of me dying is very small, since it appears to be stage 1 or 2.

I'll be getting an appointment in one of the biggest hospitals in my country (Tampereen yliopistollinen sairaala), a few hundred kilometres from where I live. I'll most likely have to stay the night on this first appointment. It's possible I'll get further treatment at a hospital closer to me, and I won't need to stay nights unless there's some sort of issues with the treatment.

I'm lucky, in a sense, since I live in Finland. I have access to practically free public healthcare, and my parents are rich enough to get me insurance, so I'm able to get treatment in private healthcare as well. Money won't be an issue in me having cancer, but that doesn't really give me any sense of security.

I know I have an "easy cancer", with small risks, but I'm still terrified. I know my young age makes treatments and surviving easier, but I feel like it makes processing this whole thing a lot harder. I was very shocked to hear I have cancer. I knew I was at risk at some point in my life, with my father, grandmother and grandfather all having fought cancer, but I didn't think I would be facing cancer in my teens.

I'm finding this very hard to cope with, especially since I have yet to be told what kind of treatment I will begin and when. That's all to be discussed at my first appointment. I haven't even gotten the appointment yet, though it should be within the next two weeks. I thought the waiting would be over when I was diagnosed, but it just seems that there's more and more waiting in store.