“Jade Goody probably saved my life – but why aren’t more women going for smear tests?” JadeGoody smeartests cervicalcancer
As I was 24 and under the age that the UK begins to offer mandatory cervical screening , I had never beenbefore. But as I was experiencing some unusual symptoms – pain after sex, spotting between periods – my GP practice agreed to screen me. I considered myself lucky. One of my friends was refused a smear because she was only 23, despite having been sexually active for the past seven years.
When my results arrived in the post, my hands trembled when I read that I had ‘abnormal cells’. I didn’t understand what that meant. I was convinced that after being invited to have a colposcopy – which involved a closer look at my cervix under a microscope and wasn’t at all as unpleasant as it sounds – and having a biopsy taken, I would be given a cancer diagnosis.
But in 2011, at the age of 26, another smear test showed that there were some cell changes present again. I was terrified. This time, another colposcopy and biopsy showed that, which describes the position and the severity of the changes. I was offered the option of having treatment to remove the cells, or waiting to see if they had returned to normal after six months.
Twelve weeks later and back in Sydney where I was then living, I decided I didn’t want to take the wait-and-see approach. Instead, I opted to undergo a LLETZ procedure, which removes the affected tissue by a thin wire with an electric current under general anaesthetic. Following the operation, my gynaecologist told me that she was glad we operated when we did as, an estimated 12% of which cases progress to cancer if left untreated.
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