I went for a routine GP check up at 26 and asked a question that led to an aggressive cervical cancer diagnosis: This is how it saved my life
A young pharmacist has urged women to keep up with screening tests after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had a partial hysterectomy just a year after her last Pap smear.
Kirsty Brown, from Sydney, was 26 when she went to her GP for a routine appointment and asked to have a smear test while she was there to “be on the safe side”. She had no symptoms, but doctors discovered abnormal cells when she was in her early 20s, and she has been vigilant with annual testing ever since.
This decision saved her life.
Now 35, she told FEMAIL about the moment her heart stopped when she was diagnosed, and how she later gave birth without a cervix, despite being told she might never have one. there will be no children.
“At first I just went to get a prescription for birth control when I realized I hadn’t been tested in a while,” she said.
“I thought it was better to be on the safe side, so I asked for a Pap smear and expected it to come back normal. I couldn’t even imagine everything that happened next.”
A young pharmacist has urged women to keep up with screening tests after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had a partial hysterectomy just a year after her previous Pap smear.
Kirsty Brown, from Sydney, was 26 when she went to her GP for a routine appointment and asked to have a smear test while she was there to “be on the safe side”. Doctors discovered the abnormal cells when she was in her early 20s, so she has been vigilant with annual testing ever since.
At the time, women aged 18–70 were advised to have a smear test every two years. More sophisticated cervical screening tests are now recommended for women every five years if their previous results are clear.
Three days later Ms Brown received a panicked call from her doctor.
“I was told I would need to take some more tests,” she explained. “I was so scared that I made an appointment with a specialist who ordered a cone biopsy, which is essentially cutting out a large area of the cervix.”
She was then diagnosed with stage 2 adenocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of cervical cancer.
“When you’re 26 and have to go through cancer treatment, the first thing you’re told is that you’re probably going to be infertile,” she said.
“It was so hard to hear that because I wanted to have a family. When you grow up, you think cancer is something you might have to deal with as a grandparent, but realizing that I might not even have that chance was devastating.”
At the time of her diagnosis, Ms Brown was at the start of her career and finishing her internship as a pharmacist – and had yet to meet the love of her life, Murray (pictured).
At the time, Ms. Brown was just starting her career and finishing her internship as a pharmacist. She didn’t take much time off from work because being alone in bed was “worse” than being in pain.
“I had to do IVF before they started my treatment, in case I wanted to have a baby later. It was so scary – everything happened so quickly.”
Ms. Brown found that staying busy and trying to get on with her life was better than sitting at home and dealing with the reality of her life-threatening illness.
She studied for the exams while on bed rest and tried to maintain a positive attitude – ultimately passing the tests with flying colors.
“Gynecological cancer is ugly,” she said. “I couldn’t walk, I was bleeding all the time, I had to have very large surgery on my pelvis.”
Her treatment included long days of radiation therapy and several complex surgeries that left her bedridden for weeks.
Ms Brown was one of the first women in Australia to give birth to a baby without a cervix; the pregnancy proceeded almost without complications, but at week 25 she was placed on bed rest.
To combat cervical cancer, Ms Brown was offered a “radical” operation called a trachelectomy, which was a new technique in 2014.
The surgery was Ms Brown’s only option to conceive and involved removing the cervix and surrounding structures, including the top of the vagina and lymph nodes, and then suturing the base of the uterus.
“As a scientist, I could not understand how I could give birth to a child whose half of the uterus was connected by a steel clamp.
“This was the beginning of my life, I could not imagine that this was the end. I was also so worried about my future that I thought: How will I find someone if I can’t bear a child?”
Ms Brown began dating someone three weeks before her diagnosis, but was not in a serious relationship at the time.
“As a scientist, I couldn’t understand how I could give birth to a baby whose half of the uterus was held together by a steel clamp,” she said.
Despite her concerns, Ms Brown met her husband Murray two years later while she was recovering and the couple soon had a baby boy, Baxter, without the need for IVF.
Ms Brown was one of the first women in Australia to give birth to a baby without a cervix; The pregnancy proceeded without any complications, but at 25 weeks she was placed on bed rest.
“Going through what I did, I never expected this to happen to me. My son Baxter was born healthy and I just couldn’t believe it.”
Despite her misgivings, Ms Brown met her husband Murray two years later and the couple soon had a baby boy, Baxter, without the need for IVF.
Looking back, one of the “happiest” experiences during her cancer journey was spending time with the people who came to see her.
“My fondest memories are of friends who would come to the oncology ward and sit with me for hours.
“I was very lucky – I saw a lot of people that no one came to, and it made me appreciate the people in my life even more.”
Ms Brown urges women to get checked regularly to reduce the risk of repeating what she did.
“It changed my life forever,” she said.