‘All you hear is the word cancer’: Mum-of-three begs others to attend screening after getting cancer diagnosis at 27
Carley Moon had given birth to her third child, Grace, just 15 weeks before she received the devastating news
A MOTHER-OF-THREE has spoken of her devastation after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 27 – and just 15 weeks after her baby was born.
Carley Moon can vividly remember what it was like when she received the news in May last year, following the birth of her daughter Grace in January.
The mum, from Wittering, had gone to the gynaecology unit of her hospital due to infection she’d developed following treatment she’d received when a smear test showed she had abnormal cells.
The news hit her like a tonne of bricks.
“I hadn’t had any results from my procedure at this time so I hadn’t really thought about it since then, it was just the infection I was thinking of and getting better because I had a new baby at the time so it wasn’t ideal,” Carley explained.
Carley and Grace, who was only 15 weeks old when Carley received her diagnosis
“I went along to this appointment and was called into a room by a consultant, it wasn’t one of the treatment rooms which is what I was expecting, who sat me down and said that in [a] sample they had found a small area of cancer.
“Cue the tears and my husband being invited into the room.”
The cancer cells had been picked up during a Lletz procedure, which is a treatment used to remove abnormal cells which have been picked up in a smear test.
Carley, her husband Chris and their children
After her diagnosis Carley needed another Lletz six weeks later, and the mum was told her cancer had been in the very early stages.
“I was told that I was very lucky, we got clear margins around any abnormal cells so it was a nice clear sample, and that that, aside from monitoring every six months, would be OK,” she recalled.
I do feel like I was on an edge. I just think everyone should be lucky, if you’ve got an opportunity to. It’s a part of our health that we’re able to be in control of so that’s what we should do.
Carley Moon
“And I had my six months check this year and so far so good, which was a huge relief.”
Although Carley is now well and didn’t need further treatment, she is under no illusion that things could have been very different for her.
“I know how lucky I am and obviously I know how blessed I am that it was found so early but with a new baby at home and my children and… it was dreadful, it really was,” she said.
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“And even though it was so early you don’t necessarily understand all that.
“All you hear, when you’re taken into a room like that, is you hear the word cancer.
“And it’s like any other parts of information, you don’t hear anything else past that word in that moment.
“It was so upsetting.”
Carley had her first smear test when she was 25, after she received a letter inviting her to make an appointment.
She was told she had some mild abnormal changes, had a colposcopy procedure to investigate further and was told it was “quite a common thing” that would “likely go away by itself”.
Carley and her husband Chris, now 32, were trying for their third baby at this point, as they already had Joshua, now eight, and Chloe, who is seven.
There was no reason for them to stop trying for a child, and Carley fell pregnant.
Not long after she was invited for another smear test, which she had just after the 12-week mark.
“I must have been about 15 weeks pregnant when I got a letter fall through the door saying that I had moderate changes this time, which required another colposcopy,” she recalled.
“Along I went to my colposcopy in floods of tears because I’d got myself in a right state about it and I was told not to worry.
“I had a really, really nice consultant who said they’d just do a couple of colposcopies through my pregnancy and make sure nothing changed, which it didn’t.
“I went on to have Grace, everything was fine.”
Carley didn’t have any biopsies because doctors didn’t want to disturb her cervix while pregnant.
Her eldest son has cerebral palsy caused by prematurity, so medics were “very, very careful” with her.
It was following her post-natal smear that more changes were found, which was when Carley needed the Lletz treatment.
After her diagnosis Carley found , a charity which offers support to women dealing with the illness.
It was invaluable to her, both in terms of the information it gave her and reading other women’s stories on its forum.
She is sharing her story in a bid to show women how vital it is to attend smear tests as part of which runs between June 13 and 19.
It takes five minutes of your life that could stop something that might change your life forever, or take your life.
Carley Moon
“I think cervical screening awareness is so huge because under no uncertain terms had I not gone to that smear test, this year would have been a very different year for me,” Carley said.
“You have to go. It feels invasive, but it isn’t. It makes no sense not to go, it really doesn’t.
“To have an opportunity to catch something as early as I was lucky enough to catch it is not something you need to miss.
“It’s such a small window of when something becomes really, really very scary.
“I do feel like I was on an edge.
“I just think everyone should be lucky, if you’ve got an opportunity to.
“It’s a part of our health that we’re able to be in control of so that’s what we should do.
“I have got friends who had not even had their first smear test when I went through all of this.
“A lot of my friends have told me they just feel squeamish at the idea of going and some of them have had children.
“Your dignity is well and truly gone after that moment but they feel squeamish at the thought and they try to avoid it.
“It takes five minutes of your life that could stop something that might change your life forever, or take your life, unfortunately for some people.”
Cervical cancer explained
- Cervical cancer develops in a woman's cervix, which is the entrance to the womb from the vagina.
- There are usually no symptoms in the early stages, although unusual vaginal bleeding may be a warning.
- The NHS offers a cervical screening programme to women over 25.
- Women between 25 and 49 are screened every three years.
- Women between 50 and 64 are offered screening every five years.
- However, research by Jo's Trust has found one in three women over 50 don't think screening is part of healthy upkeep of the body.
- One in three over 50s have delayed the procedure, by an average of 26 months.
- In this stays the same, research by the charity suggest cervical cancer rates will increase by 16% among 60 - 64 year olds and 85% among 70 - 74 year olds by 2040.
