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Gynaecological cancer: a personal experience
Gynaecological cancers, unlike other forms of cancer, are often ignored or misunderstood: people are just not comfortable talking about them.
Bev Young felt generally fit and healthy when she went for a routine check up with her GP in 2005. A nurse who examined her recognised a rare form of gynaecological cancer that she had seen before, and urged her to see a gynaecologist. She had a biopsy the next day and was quickly diagnosed.
Bev had an operation performed by Professor Sean Kehoe – the man she now says saved her life. Now, after more surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, she is determined to beat the illness and is raising money for a Computer Integrated Theatre for Professor Kehoe and his team.
"I really think that a big problem is that we don't know how to talk about these cancers without getting embarrassed," she says, "and that's crazy because women are dying from them every year".
Adapted from an article in Torch|, Winter 2009
We welcome personal experiences from our patients for inclusion on this website: if you have an experience that you would like to share with us, please contact feedback@orh.nhs.uk|.