A mum was diagnosed with cervical cancer after she went for a routine smear test. Esther Stevens felt like her world was perfect before being told she had cancer, she'd finished her degree, started a new job and moved into a forever home with her family.
In January 2020 results from her smear test detected HPV and high-grade CIN3 cells on her cervix. She was referred for a colposcopy and medics performed a LLETZ procedure to eliminate the abnormal cells.
The next year and a half saw her have surgery to remove two ovarian cysts and her fallopian tubes, as well as two more LLETZ procedures to clear her margins. On how she felt when she was diagnosed, Esther said: "My world was perfect, then the universe decided to punish me.
"As lovely as summertime is, I now associate it with the worst news ever." When she thought it was all over, in August 2021, the special needs teaching assistant attended a consultation in her community hospital alone.
"I thought it was just part of the aftercare and I wasn't worried about anything. I told the consultant that I was waiting for the results from my latest procedure," Esther told The Mirror, this Cervical Screening Awareness Week.
"I remember her face vividly and I will never forget her words. She said, 'I'm really sorry to say this, but you've got cervical cancer'. It was a very surreal experience."
Esther, from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, rang her husband Wayne, she recalls: "I told him to come to the hospital and he wanted me to tell him over the phone. So I said, 'I've been told I've got cancer'."
That afternoon, Esther and Wayne attended an appointment with a doctor and Macmillan nurse, who explained they were "confident" she could recover. The following month, the mum-of-two went to have a radical hysterectomy to remove her uterus, only to discover the tumour had spread to her lymph nodes.
"It meant I'd need to have chemotherapy, radiotherapy and acutherapy. I was absolutely devastated. That was when I reached out to Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust," she said. "I was sat in a hospital bed and I wrote on a forum, 'I'm scared and frightened, please help me. I'm drowning and at rock bottom'.
"Within a minute, I had 20 messages from women who had survived cervical cancer reassuring me. They had been there and got through it. It was a huge relief and turning point. I was spiralling out of control and they calmed me down instantly."
Esther began seven weeks of intensive treatment with gruelling radiotherapy five times a week and chemotherapy once a week. Esther reached out to women on Jo's charity forum when she hit rock bottom.
"I journaled every single day and counted the sessions backwards, starting at 25 instead of one. It was a more positive way of looking at it," she said. "I had to find humour in everything, to stop the darkness taking over all of the time. I would sit and watch series on BBC iPlayer or read a book.
"I had to use my energy and sheer stubbornness to fight because I was determined to live for my boys." Due to the chemotherapy, Esther unfortunately started to haemorrhage, but because she had coronavirus, she couldn't go onto the oncology ward.
"I remember bleeding and feeling like I was going to die in hospital alone, without my children knowing. It was a very lonely and dark place to be," she said. Esther and Wayne made the decision not to tell their sons that their mum had cancer, to shield them from the pain.
"My eldest is autistic and my youngest has severe anxiety, so they both see the world in black and white. I couldn't say to them hand on heart that I wasn't going to die," Esther said.
"They knew that I was poorly and in hospital every day, but I tried to shelter them from worry. Only you know what your children are like, so there's no right or wrong." With support from Jo's and the amazing work of NHS medics, Esther was able to pull through and went on to have brachytherapy.
"I had to lay still for 17 hours a day and it felt like I had scaffolding poles inside of me. It was the hardest part of my treatment. It was painful and traumatic," she said. After her treatment ended in December 2021, Esther went into chemical menopause and recalls waking up one night confused, in sweats with brain fog.
Finally, in April 2022, the mum was given the good news that there was "no evidence of the disease" and got to ring the bell on the cancer ward. "Then I had to pick up the pieces of my life. Everybody was so happy for me and I was ecstatic, but I still needed help from Jo's and counselling," she said.
Through all of her traumatic experiences, Esther has credited Jo's support network with guiding her through treatment and offering life-saving advice at her darkest times. "Because of Jo's forums, I've been able to support other women when they are spiralling. I'm here to help and pay it forward," she said.
"It feels as though it's happened to me for a reason. I survived and I am here to tell my story, raise awareness and reassure other women." Jo shared her journey on Instagram (@cervical_cancer_my_story), and multiple ladies have gotten in touch with her to say that she encouraged them to go for a smear.
"That makes it all worthwhile. A smear test is the first indicator that something isn't right," Esther explained. "In 2017, my results were completely normal, then three years later, they weren't. So you cannot miss a cervical screening."
Esther now has quarterly checks and has described the NHS aftercare as "phenomenal". "When things are going really well, I worry that something bad will happen. I will never be the person I was before," she said.
"But I couldn't have done it without my husband. My parents looked after the kids so he could look after me. He is my rock."
One in three women in the UK don't attend their smear test. For information or advice, visit Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust or call 0808 802 8000.
