25-year-old Paige Hart was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer last year.
When she was 24 and not yet eligible for a smear test, she says her signs and symptoms were not detected despite seeing her doctor four times.
Paige says she had suffered back pain and bleeding but was only told that her pelvis was inflamed. It was only during her fourth and last appointment that tests showed she had stage 3b cervical cancer.
After months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she was given the ‘all clear.’
But she started experiencing intense pain again and tests revealed the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes in stomach, chest and neck.
Paige was told the cancer is not curable but treatable, and she started another course of aggressive treatments. She believes that if she had been offered a smear test when she was younger, it could’ve saved her life.
“I’m really angry, I feel like the NHS have let me down,” she expressed. “If I’d have had a smear test a few years ago the cancer would definitely have been found.
“By the time it was found it was stage 3B which was fairly well progressed.
“The future is uncertain, I need to live everyday now like it’s my last, it’s been a really terrible year.
“I’m living a half life. I can’t live but I can’t plan for anything. I don’t know what’s going to happen at all.”
Paige continued: “I was constantly bleeding. I went to the doctor but they just palmed me off with tablets.
“They said I had an inflamed pelvis and there was nothing wrong with me. I was only 24 at the time and I suspect that they just thought I was too young to get something like cervical cancer.
“I saw a different female doctor on the fourth visit who said something wasn’t right with my cervix.
“I went straight to hospital and then into theatre so they could stop the bleeding. It was then that that they diagnosed me with cervical cancer.
“When the cancer was actually found it was too far gone.”
She added: “I think the age needs to be lowered to when people are first sexually active.
“It’s ten years since Jade Goody passed away but the doctor’s must have thought ‘she’s only 24 so it can’t be cervical cancer’.
“The age the test takes place needs lowering. Despite everything I’m trying to keep positive and live life to the full.”
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this post with your family and friends!
Video Credit: Rumble