Last year Heather Keating got the worst news ever- she was diagnosed with cervical cancer when she was only 24-years old. She fought the illness and won the war against cancer! Today, she wants to warn women from around the world to watch out for the symptoms no matter how old or young you are.
This young lady from Ireland went to see her gynecologist after she started bleeding between menstrual cycles and after sex. Since she was 24, and Ireland law says that a woman must be over 25 to get a free Pap smear, the doctor told her to come back the next year to get tested. Heather got back from her gynecologist and she didn’t even think that she could get cervical cancer at that young age.
3 months after seeing her doctor, the bleeding got so worse that Heather became anemic, so she decided to get another checkup. She paid for her Pap smear and she was sent off to get tested.
If she did the test 3 months earlier, the doctors would have noticed the change in her cells before they turned cancerous. Unfortunately, after 3 months of waiting, Heather got a devastating diagnose- she had cervical cancer.
“This was the most traumatic experience in my life. I got an MRI and luckily it showed that the cancer didn’t spread and that everything can be solved with a surgery. I’m cancer-free now, but that was an experience I should’ve never gone through,” wrote Heather on her Facebook wall.
She also advises women under the age of 25 to get a checkup if they notice any of the symptoms she had:
- Abnormal bleeding.
- Longer and stronger menstrual cycle.
- Bleeding between menstrual cycles.
- Bleeding after sex.
- Foul smelling discharge.
- Pain or discomfort in the pelvis.
Heather hopes that she will raise awareness about this devastating illness.