TikTok Saved My Life: Student discovers life-threatening tumour after self-diagnosing rare condition

2 May 2025, 10:04 | Updated: 2 May 2025, 11:45

A young woman saved her own life after successfully self-diagnosing cancer that doctors had missed because she researched her own worrying symptoms on TikTok.

Cleo Lambert, from Tring in Hertfordshire, had been unknowingly living with a cancerous tumour growing behind her liver for years.

Her life started to fall apart two-and-a-half years ago when her GP was unable to provide answers to the painful symptoms she was suffering.

However, this all changed when the prospective fashion student undertook a TikTok scrolling session in the summer of 2024 and noticed a post which told her she may have a rare condition called Cushing's Syndrome.

Her findings prompted doctors to order an X-ray, which revealed a 17cm cancerous mass had been growing inside the 21-year-old.

It was surgically removed and she immediately began life-saving chemotherapy.

Due to the size of the growth, medics told her that without the operation that year, she would not have survived.

"Doctors told me the tumours are 'usually between 3-4cm, 5cm is more serious.'", she told the Female Lead.

"They told me that mine had likely been growing for years and there was a chance it could even be cancerous."

"A doctor also told me I’d probably saved a year of time based on how long a Cushing’s diagnosis could typically take. I think if I’d waited another year, with the size the tumour already was, I'd be dead."

In the two-and-a-half years prior, Cleo had suffered from painful bouts of bloating after eating and had been putting on weight.

GPs initially told her she had polycystic ovary syndrome, a common hormonal disorder affecting women that was not curable but manageable through lifestyle choices.

But Cleo's health continued to decline further and new symptoms - such as irregular periods, exhaustion and unexplained bruising - left her unable to leave her own house.

Desperate to find out what was wrong with her, Cleo managed to get a endocrinologist appointment booked in, but had 12 weeks to wait until she saw them.

It was during that period that Cleo undertook some research on the social media platform and found she had Cushing's Syndrome - a rare condition caused by prolonged exposure to the stress hormone cortisol in the body.

"I saw a video that said: 'Do you have these symptoms?' and it listed extra weight around the stomach, a puffy face, exhaustion, hair loss, excessive hair growth in unusual places. I was reading a checklist of my life," Cleo told the Female Lead.

"In the comments, people mentioned something called Cushing’s syndrome. I Googled it and immediately knew: this was me."

Cleo ended up going down a "researching rabbit hole" into a "corner of health" she had never heard of before.

Armed with a mountain of research, Cleo went to her appointment in July 2024 and presented her theory, which the doctor agreed with.

Tests showed her cortisol levels were absurdly high, measuring at 1,334 nmol/l on one measure, where the normal level is around 135 nmol/l.

But more shockingly, X-rays revealed that Cleo had a 17cm tumour, the size of an aubergine, pushing up against her stomach and growing into her liver.

Cleo's symptoms first started appearing after she returned home from travelling around Australia in the summer of 2022.

Despite being a regular gym goer and healthy eater, she was gaining weight easily and seeing her usually thick locks of hair become a lot thinner.

After being told she had PCOS, Cleo started to make changes to her lifestyle to see it it would help.

"I blamed the contraceptive pill and stopped taking it, but nothing changed," She said.

"The doctors told me I had PCOS which I could manage it with diet and lifestyle changes. I cut out coffee, reduced carbs, stuck to low-impact exercise."

But Cleo's symptoms only got worse and things started to spiral in February 2024.

"My periods were irregular, I felt exhausted all the time, and I was getting strange new symptoms," she said.

"I was getting nosebleeds, unexplained bruising, stretch marks spread across my body, appearing even from stretching after workouts."

Alarm bells began to sound even louder when Cleo's freshly inked tattoo left her arm with bruising on it for weeks, something which had never happened before.

She had been hoping to start university that summer, but her rapid health decline had left her not wanting to leave the house.

"The most frustrating part was not having any answers," she said.

"No one said I looked different except my older sister, and I appreciated her honesty.

"I was desperate for answers. I felt like I was in someone else’s body and I knew there was something wrong, but felt helpless not understanding what it was."

But thanks to her TikTok diagnosis, Cleo's chemo treatment finishes this month and she is hopeful of going on holiday this summer and potentially go to university this September, a year later than planned.

As well as being grateful to the helpful content regarding her symptoms, Cleo also praised TikTok for enabling her to connect with other young woman and girls who were suffering from Cushing's Syndrome.

"TikTok has played another role in my health journey. It helped me connect with a girl who’d been through almost the exact same thing - first misdiagnosed with PCOS, then later discovering she had Cushing’s too.

"Finding people my age going through similar experiences has been incredibly reassuring.

"While the UK’s National Health Service website is helpful, nothing compares to hearing real stories from creators on TikTok who are living it.

"I’d often reach out to them directly with specific questions, and those conversations gave me reassurance that medical information alone couldn’t.

"If you’d told me everything I was about to go through, I would’ve shit myself. But going from diagnosis to operation in two months meant there was no time to overthink, which was a weird kind of blessing.

"So, if you think something is wrong, trust your gut. You know what is normal for you. Keep pushing for answers. And keep scrolling on TikTok."