Cancer survivor’s journey from patient to public speaker
A DERBYSHIRE survivor of a grim battle against cervical cancer has told how her fight inspired her to become a public speaker.
Michelle Camm, 46, of Ilkeston, had a smear test in February 2020 which discovered types of human papillomavirus (HPV) in her cervix, which is the main cause of cervical cancer. This led to her being diagnosed in July of the same year with stage 3C aggressive cancer in her cervix lymph nodes.
After gruelling treatment, she was finally told the “golden news” that she was clear of the cancer – only to learn of a death of a friend she had made during treatment.
Michelle has documented her experience in a book she wrote called A Lioness, My Story of Cancer, Courage, Love and Friendship.
Michelle, who runs a T-shirt printing company with her husband, has spoken out to mark Cervical Screening Awareness Week, which runs from June 20-26.
Around 220,000 women every year are told they have cervical cell changes and with one in three women not attending their screening it is even more important to raise awareness.
Michelle said: “When I had my initial diagnosis I was told it was classed as 1B stage and that I was to have a hysterectomy, which was frightening enough, and then between the third and ninth of July I had a full body scan, which revealed I had late-stage cancer, stage 3C.”
“Literally, the weekend after, I was in for chemotherapy, so it was really quick and I have to say very frightening.”
“I had to have radical treatment as it was so serious that they had to get on with it straight away, so I had a 12-week block of treatment, chemotherapy and 25 days of radiotherapy, followed by blast therapy, which is radiotherapy directly on the cervix, which wasn’t very pleasant.
“It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do.”
While Michelle was in hospital, she met Martina, from Slovakia, who also had cancer, and they became friends due to their shared experiences. Unfortunately, as they got to know each other, Michelle learned that Martina’s treatments were not as successful as her own.
Michelle said: “The radiotherapy stays in your system for at least a month after the treatment so I had a waiting period from October to February 2019, that’s when I had another MRI scan to see if the cancer had been destroyed. Then I had another waiting period.”
She received what she calls her “golden news” on March 16, 2021, saying that she was all clear and that the treatment had worked. However, it had changed her perspective on life as it potentially could return.
Michelle spoke about her “golden day”, saying: “It was the best day I’ve ever experienced, it was like a rebirth and I felt elated, but at the same time was crushed. My heart was broken as I knew that my friend who had been on this journey with me was going to die. That’s what made me start writing down my feelings in a little diary.
“My family thought I’d be happy and bouncing off the walls but I was still sad about my friend. We’d had nine months of living with this dark cloud over our house and then suddenly I was better, but I couldn’t help but think about her still in the hospital.”
“So, I started writing, just scribbles and bits and bobs at first. I wrote about how I had just bought a new car before my diagnosis and that made me want to write more about my journey that I’d been on.”
Martina wasn’t as fortunate as Michelle and after a long battle, she died. Michelle had grown close to Martina’s husband, who was from the Czech Republic and did not speak English well, so Michelle helped him plan Martina’s funeral before he returned to the Czech Republic due to not being happy in the UK after the loss of his wife.
Michelle said: “I told Martina I wanted to write a book and she asked me to carry on with it, so it was a promise to her. It was absolutely scary, but such a golden and important part of my life that I wanted to share.”
“It took me one year and three days from the start of writing my experience to collecting the finished books from Arnold Publishers.”
“I worked so incredibly hard on it that it became obsessive. I’d always wanted to write a book about my journey and I thought if I can write and publish a book, I can thank my family, friends and the hospital for getting me through the dark times.
“I could also try to raise awareness towards cervical cancer and the majority of the sales could be given to charities that also help promote awareness.”
“I wanted people to get an idea of what it’s like from the initial diagnosis, through the treatment and hopefully out the other end.
“Whether that be someone with cancer who wants a friend or someone who wants to understand more about the process, I’ve written it so that those people hopefully won’t feel like they’re on their own. A friend between the pages, so to speak.”
She went on to say: “Many people might not want to read a book about someone’s journey with cancer, but it’s more than that, it’s about how it changed my perception on life and helped me to enjoy the little things.”
“It’s the simple things are sometimes the most beautiful.”
“So far, I’ve sold 183 of the 500 books printed, with 23 donated to the Derby Cancer drop-in centre.”
With the fees raised from book purchases, Michelle has so far raised just over £500 and hopes to sell the remaining copies as a way of giving back to the hospital, charities and friends that helped her throughout her journey.
Michelle said: “I’d love to become a public speaker as this has really shaken off my anxiety and made me very confident. So I’m going to stick at it and try to keep telling my story. I just have this overwhelming, go-forit attitude towards everything now.”
Only one month after her “golden day” Michelle’s husband Richard, 50, bought her a motorbike as it was a hobby she had always wanted to pick up again.
She said: “Being able to ride alongside my husband on his bike, healed my broken heart. If you’d asked me before my cancer to go on a bike I’d have been fearful, but now I honestly feel like I can do anything.”