A mum who was told she was “too young” for her bleeding to be “anything else” was shocked to later be given just a year left to live.
Emma Clarke was reassured by doctors and her GP that the abnormal bleeding she had experienced was just as a result of her contraception becoming “misaligned” and it “lacerating” her womb.
The 31-year-old was assured that she was “too young for it to be anything else”.
However, the bleeding and pain intensified but doctors repeated reassured her it was due to her IUD.
Eventually Emma was seen by a specialist who told her “I've never seen a womb look that way which wasn't a case of cervical cancer."
The mum was tragically diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer and given just one year to live.
Her partner David Rice told the Liverpool Echo: "It started a year ago. She started having certain symptoms and she was bleeding a lot from her vagina.
"She kept going to the doctor about it and they told her it was her contraception. They started saying it was misaligned .
"When she went to visit her local GP they said the contraception had become stuck and lacerated her womb.
“We were told she was too young for it to be anything else each time she went.
"After ringing up for a couple of weeks she got an emergency appointment with a specialist. The specialist said 'I've never seen a womb look that way which wasn't a case of cervical cancer'.
"She was diagnosed as stage three cervical cancer."
Emma, who lives with her partner in Claughton, Birkenhead, underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but was forced to stop the chemo because it was damaging her kidney.
Doctors also tragically found radiotherapy wasn’t helping either, and further tests revealed that the cancer had worsened and spread to her lungs.
David added: "I woke up to her crying. It wasn't unusual as some times the pain did that to her. But then she told me that it was now stage 4.
"They gave us approximately 12 months. We've got three young kids, they're 12, 10 and five.
"Who wants to say goodbye to the person they wanted to spend their life with.
"I tried to be optimistic, thinking there might be other trials or something like that which could work. But as time goes on I see Emma's condition and I'm less sure.
"Emma also wants to encourage woman to get checked, because as we've seen if they don't or if they don't trust themselves it can lead to something devastating."
Despite the "terrible" diagnosis David wants to marry Emma, something the pair have previously pushed back due to financial reasons.
The childhood sweethearts first met when David was 16 and Emma was 15 and now plan to get married in a "princess" style wedding.
David said: "I've never been able to give her the big wedding she deserved.
"We always knew it was bad because everytime we spoke to anyone about it they never gave us any sense there could be good news, they just said they were sorry.
"They just kept saying she was too young and apologised."
Anyone who wishes to contribute to the couple's wedding can find their fundraiser here.
