Woman Delayed Cervical Screening, Later Found 5.5cm Tumour, in Awareness Campaign
Laura Woods, 41, ignored an NHS reminder at 30 and was later diagnosed with stage 2b cervical cancer. She now backs a regional campaign in the East of England, where about 350,000 women are overdue for screening. Broadcaster Hannah Fry also discussed her own delayed test.
Laura Woods, 41, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, says a busy life meant delayed cervical screening at age 30, and doctors later found a 5.5cm tumour and diagnosed cervical cancer. She now features in a new awareness campaign in the East of England, where about 350,000 women are overdue for screening, according to the East of England Cancer Alliance.
Woods was raising her daughter and working full-time when an NHS reminder letter about her smear test arrived. She ignored it.
"Loads of things seemed to take priority over things that come in the post, one of them being my cervical screening invite," she said. She thought "everything will be fine" and booked the test two or three months after it was due.
Diagnosis and treatment
Results, which took several weeks, showed abnormal cell changes on her cervix. Further tests led to a diagnosis of stage 2b cervical cancer, meaning the cancer had begun to spread into surrounding tissues.
"There were just so many things in life that came to the forefront and that cancer diagnosis just smashed them all," she said. Her treatment was successful, and it took about 10 years before she was discharged from hospital care.
"If I had put that off [any longer] and not gone, then I don't know whether I would be sitting here today," she said.
During treatment she met Carly Slater, who had also been diagnosed after delaying a smear test at 25. Slater died in her thirties. Woods now campaigns in her memory.
The regional campaign
The campaign, run by the East of England Cancer Alliance, is called Let's Talk Cervical Screening. Smear tests are believed to save about 4,500 lives a year in the UK. Women aged 25 to 64 are invited every five years.
Amanda Pleavin, the alliance's managing director, said increasing participation was "an important part of our shared ambition to improve cancer outcomes across the East of England".
Ballari Ghosh, a consultant gynaecologist at Colchester General Hospital in Essex and the alliance's clinical lead, urged people to contact their GP surgery. "The only message I would send to people with cervixes is please come and have your smear test... even if you have had the HPV vaccine," she said.
Hannah Fry's account
Prof Hannah Fry, 42, the mathematician and broadcaster, also spoke this weekend about delaying a screening. She told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that she put off an examination for months in 2020, and cancerous cells were found after she attended.
She had a hysterectomy, which she described as "horrific". "I had my five-year clear the other day. I feel so unbelievably lucky," she said.
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