FIVE months ago 23-year-old Sam Holland was preparing to travel the world and planning her future career.

A couple of weeks later the law graduate, from Old Town, was told she was battling a rare cancer.

Now she has become an ambassador for Cancer Research UK’s annual breast cancer awareness campaign and hopes her story can inspire others.

She said: “There is no history of cancer in my family and this has hit all the family hard. But I have no choice but to battle through it.”

Sam is one of about 150 young adults between the ages of 20 and 24 in the UK who are each year diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare form of cancer.

“People automatically think that if you have cancer it’s a death sentence,” she said.

“There are some cancers that are extremely serious, but I’m just lucky with my cancer that it’s got a good prognosis and hopefully it will be cured eventually.

“I just have to focus on this for now and then I can get on with my life.”

The condition was discovered in June after Sam, who studied at Commonweal School and New College, had completed a law course in Manchester.

The plan was to use her free time to travel to Cambodia and Vietnam for a month before settling down to a training course in London to become a solicitor.

She said: “I had been having some nasty neck and back pain and night sweats. I thought it was due to the stress of cramming three years of studies into one.”

When a lump appeared on Sam’s neck she was referred to a specialist and was shocked by the diagnosis.

She said: “I kind of felt numb – it didn’t feel real.

“Cancer is not something you think about having at my age.

“I had only recently had a lump on my breast checked out and it was found to be nothing.

“Then to find out that I have actually got cancer at 23 is quite strange.”

Sam is currently receiving fortnightly intensive chemotherapy, which she started in July and should finish in December. Despite this, in her role as an ambassador Sam spends her time visiting councils, schools and businesses around Swindon and distributing posters to get people involved in pink fundraising events for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Sam has good and bad days and relies on support from family and friends.

She said: “I cut my hair short, expecting it to fall out, but that has not happened.

“I don’t see it as a particularly negative thing or want people to feel sorry for me.”

There are more than 4,600 new cases of breast cancer in the south west every year, including more than 137 a year in Swindon.

To find out how you can support Cancer Research UK’s “It’s a girl thing” campaign visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/breastcancer or call your local fundraising office on 08701 602040.