'I was told I didn't need smear tests': Gay woman nearly DIES of cervical cancer after following doctor's orders

A WOMAN nearly died from cervical cancer after she was told by her doctor she didn’t need smear tests because she’d never had sex with a man.
Liz Noble, 68, was forced to undergo a radical hysterectomy and required traumatic chemotherapy and radiotherapy after the disease spread to her lymph nodes.
She has decided to speak out about her dreadful ordeal as part of Cervical Cancer Prevention Week with the aim of encouraging other women to attend regular screenings.

Liz, who is originally from Gateshead but now lives in Aylesbury, first visited her GP for a smear test when she was in her late twenties after she experienced bleeding outside of her periods.

When the test came back negative the doctor advised her she no longer needed to attend cervical screenings as she is gay and not having sex with men.
Twenty years later Liz changed her medical practice and began receiving letters reminding her to book in a smear test, but she decided against it.
She said: “I ignored them as per the advice from my previous doctor that it was not necessary for me to attend.”

Liz went through the menopause at the age of 47, but in 2003 she experienced a bleed.
She explained: “I went to the doctors to get it checked and he referred me for an internal examination.
“It was after this examination that I was told I had stage 1b1 cervical cancer which had spread to my lymph nodes.
“At that point my world changed and I thought I was going to die.

“I immediately blamed the doctor who had given me the wrong information and this made it difficult for me to trust the healthcare professionals who were now treating me.”
She was forced to undergo a radical hysterectomy, but because the cancer had spread she also had to have painful chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which lasted several months.
She told how her partner Barbara Tranter, 64, was extremely supportive but said she couldn’t help but resent her for being healthy when she wasn’t.
She said: “I felt bitter because everybody else around me seemed to be well.
“I was very, very depressed and thinking, ‘It’s gone to lymph nodes, I’m not going to survive this even with treatment’ – which was very, very tiring.
“At the end of it all I felt really ill.

“I said to the doctor, ‘This treatment is going to kill me’.
“She said, ‘No, it’s going to save your life’.”
Liz, a film archivist, was off work for 10 months and forced to seek benefits to help her pay her mortgage.
She explained: “It took me a long time to get back to normal.”
“Life is good now. It’s a wake-up call.”

She said she is thankful for the support she received from Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, a charitable organisation dedicated to women and their families affected by the devastating disease.
Liz told how she and Barbara now strive to make the most of every minute together and their relationship has become “much stronger because of it”.
She added: “I am telling my story now so that other women don’t make the same mistake as me.”

Last year 1.4 million UK women put themselves at risk of life-threatening cervical cancer through failing to attend a cervical screening.
Today Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust launched their 2016 #SmearForSmear campaign to encourage more women to attend their smear tests.
 Several celebrities have already got involved in the cause, posting their #SmearForSmear selfies on social media.

(The Sun)