A beauty queen is urging women to attend their smear test appointments after receiving a "worrying" letter.
Miss GB contestant, Niamh Gwen, was offered a cervical cancer screening six months before her 25th birthday , but put it off for the first few months.
Realising she was being "hypocritical" as she was helping raising awareness for Cancer Research for the competition, the 25-year-old attended her GP to have the test done.
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A weeks later, she received a letter in the post to say the results were "abnormal" and that she would need screenings every six months, the ECHO reports.
The former Miss Preston said: "It took a few weeks to hear anything back and I thought 'oh, no news must be good news'. But when I opened the letter and it said the results were abnormal, I was like 'what on earth'. I was worried.
"I started looking into it myself and spoke to a few of my girlfriends, they said they had something similar and it was more common than I thought. It doesn't mean I have cancer or anything is wrong, it's not an STD, it doesn't mean you're dirty, it just means they need to keep an eye on you.
"My doctor said it could be from something as simple as a water infection and in six months when I'm screened again it could all be fine. If not then at least I know whatever it is, it was caught as early as possible because I got the test."
After working up the screening in her head before the appointment, Niamh is determined to encourage young women to get screened and that it isn’t anything to be ashamed of. She also wants women to know how easy and straight forward screenings are.
The 25-year-old social media manager said: "I was personally was shocked how straight forward it was and it was not uncomfortable. The nurse I had was just amazing and so nice.
"She made me feel relaxed, put me at ease and made me feel like I wasn't over reacting with how I was feeling. She explained everything she was going to do and told me it would be over within a few seconds.
"For me it was no more discomfort than putting in a tampon. I know it was the woman's job, but I felt like I needed to get her some flowers because she was that amazing."
Niamh also spoke of how she felt it was important for all women to be screened, including those who had the HPV vaccine in school.
She said: "I have spoken to a few friends about it [being screened for cervical cancer] and they said they didn't need to because they had the jabs. I've had the jabs and had an abnormal result, just because you have had the jab doesn't mean you can't get it.
"It's still important to be checked as prevention is better than cure."
To find out more about cervical cancer screenings click here.
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