NHS WORKER STILL COULDN’T GET CHECKED
HAYLEY Prince, 44, was diagnosed with cervical cancer after finding it difficult to make a convenient appointment for a smear test.
In 2009, aged just 32, she was told she had stage two cervical cancer and would need a hysterectomy.
She said: “I work in the NHS and was a single mum at the time. Being so busy I found it a struggle to get an appointment without having to take a day’s holiday. A Saturday morning would have been brilliant but they didn’t offer them.
“I was a few months over my call-up due to trying to get an appointment I could get to.”
The cancer had spread to lymph nodes in her groin and the Manchester mum also needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which were “incredibly difficult”.
She finally got the all-clear in 2015 after five years of check-ups but still lives with some effects, including bowel problems that may never go away.