Save The Box campaign
A heartbreaking mistake robbed Michelle of having children, and inspired her to empower women to ask for a second opinion
Should you be rude enough to ask Michelle Cox why she doesn’t have children, beware, because she just may tell you why.
The 46 year-old executive director can’t have kids after having a radical hysterectomy to remove a football-size tumour from her cervix. While Michelle is grateful the operation saved her life, it also took away her dream of becoming a mother.
TAKEN AWAY
“I am constantly asked why I haven’t had kids and the fact is I had that choice taken away from me,” she says. “But people need to know that their life path is not the same as others and respect that fact. Because the reality is it is no one else’s business why.”
Along with making others aware that children are a gift and not a given for many, Michelle is also determined to educate women on the importance of trusting their own bodies to know something is wrong and to ask for a second opinion.
MISDIAGNOSED
“GPS are not God and they can make mistakes,” she says, with her own case evidence of the fact.
At the age of 29, and with a family history of cancer, an abnormal pap smear saw Michelle undergo day surgery to have a cone biopsy, where the cervix is shaved.
When she moved from her home in the Northern Territory to Sydney for a fresh start, Michelle became increasingly concerned by odd symptoms including a persistent watery discharge. She visited a GP who put her on three courses of antibiotics, which didn’t work. The doctor then diagnosed her with thrush.
Nine months later, Michelle’s symptoms were so bad she was using tampons and pads on a daily basis and showering up to four times a day “just to feel clean”. Returning to the clinic, she was lucky her usual GP was away that day and saw another doctor. She was then referred to a gynaecologist who scheduled an immediate biopsy.
Days later, Michelle was in surgery and the size of the tumour meant a full hysterectomy (doctors were able to save Michelle’s ovaries). Luckily, she didn’t need follow-up chemotherapy and radiation.
Now happily married with two stepsons she adores, Michelle wants her story to be a lesson to other women to acknowledge they know their bodies best and should demand a second opinion if they feel they are being misdiagnosed.
‘GPS are not God and they can make mistakes’