A mum-of-two who went to the GP after experiencing dizziness whenever she sat down and noticing a lump in her genital area was told she had stage 3 vaginal cancer. She is now urging others not to be embarrassed to ask their doctor for an examination.
During the second covid lockdown Kathy Morse, then 52, from Walkden, Salford, started to experience a strange dizziness only when she sat down. She attended the GP and underwent several tests but doctors didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
Several weeks later Kathy noticed a lump on her vaginal area and put her embarrassment about seeing a doctor aside to ask for an examination. In December 2020 a biopsy revealed she had extremely rare vaginal cancer, an often aggressive form of the disease that affects just 250 women in the UK each year, MEN reports.
A month later she underwent a seven hour surgery to remove the tumour and reconstruct part of her vagina. Kathy was also told that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, which meant undergoing an intense five-week programme of 25 rounds of radiotherapy and five rounds of chemotherapy at Christie Hospital in south Manchester.
After getting through what Kathy calls the most isolating time of her life the former teaching assistant for special needs children is urging other women to put aside their embarrassment or discomfort and go and see a GP about any gynaecological concerns they may have. She has now completed all of her treatment.
Kathy attends regular check-ups and must take medication to help with the severe nerve damage she's left with. She told Manchester Evening News: "If I didn't go through that 15 minutes of embarrassment with my doctor I might not be having this conversation now.
"It's a very rare form of cancer and most people I've spoken to have never even heard of it. I had a full hysterectomy 15 years ago as well so it seemed like I had less chance of developing anything in that region."
Kathy didn't fit the age profile or symptom check-list for vaginal cancer with her initial dizziness, as around 40 per cent of women diagnosed are aged over 65. Common symptoms include unexpected vaginal bleeding, a vaginal lump, pain when urinating, persistent pelvic and vaginal pain, and vaginal pain during sexual intercourse.
She said: "I just started to feel really dizzy when I was sitting down. When I stood up I felt absolutely fine. I went to the doctors and my blood pressure was fine, they ruled out everything with blood tests.
"I never felt ill. Then I felt a lump in that area. It wasn't painful and I just thought it was a cyst that would need removing so I booked to see my doctor."
Before diagnosis Kathy underwent a vaginal biopsy under general anaesthetic. As her diagnosis took place during lockdown she was on her own when she was told “it wasn’t good news”.
Kathy added: "The tumour was around 2.5cm and last January I had surgery lasting seven hours to remove it. They successfully removed it but it had already got through my pelvic wall and they took lymph nodes for testing. It came back that it had spread so I had to go through 25 rounds of radiotherapy and five courses of chemotherapy in the space of five weeks.
"The chemotherapy didn't really affect me much but I had really bad radiotherapy burn. I've had two children and I've never felt pain like that before. That was the lowest point for me, but I got through it."
Kathy believes that she wouldn’t be here now if she’d put off seeing her doctor. She said: "What if I had been too embarrassed to see my GP? If I can help just one person that's enough.
"It makes me angry that people find these lumps and they don't get checked out. I know there are a lot of people that don't want to go to their smear tests or general gynaecological appointments.
"When you have a cancer that is really rare it's isolating, but why should we feel embarrassed? Deborah James was amazing in raising awareness about bowel cancer and I want to do the same."
Kathy wants women to check their genital area regularly, just as many people check their breasts for lumps. September is gynaecological cancer awareness month and Kathy is also campaigning for pelvic checks to be offered to women alongside smear tests.
For more information and support about vaginal and other gynaecological cancers, visit the Eve Appeal.
