AFTER spending two years of her life battling cervical cancer, Jennifer Mason had been looking forward to marrying the love of her life.
But after returning from a family holiday, the mum-of-five died aged 36 from complications of the aggressive cancer.
There are around 3,197 new cases of cervical cancer each year in the UK and around 854 deaths and Cancer Research UK says that 99.8 per cent of cases are preventable.
Jennifer’s devoted partner Simon Dodd has now told how the ‘bubbly’ mum was killed by the illness after doctors were unable to get clear results from two separate smear tests.
Simon, 39, said Jennifer had first become concerned about her health in September 2019.
She had visited her local GP in Ashington Northumberland for two smear tests but had been unable to get clear results and was referred to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH), in Cramlington.
An appointment was scheduled but before this, in November 2019 she was rushed to hospital.
It was here that a serious investigation found that doctors had missed the opportunity to spot cervical cancer while Jennifer was treated for abscesses near her ovaries.
Simon is now encouraging people to seek help for their medical issues and said you should ‘keep fighting’ GPs if you know something isn’t right with your body.
“I want to make women aware, and I want to ask men: if you notice that your wife, your partner, isn’t fine, maybe they are feeling different, acting different, sounding different and you think maybe there’s something wrong to talk to your partner and say ‘look, do you think that’s right what the doctor said, do you want a second opinion?’ just things like that, to show your partner that we actually do care and they can talk about it.
“I want to make a big noise, I want to shout it from the rooftops: women – and men of course – need to get checked, don’t be ashamed just get checked if there’s anything you’re worried about.
“Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion, doctors are there to help at the end of the day”, he told ChronicleLive.
After it was found that cervical cancer was missed in Jennifer, she was diagnosed with suspected advanced-stage cancer in March 2020.
Experts said the chance to check her cervix and carry out smear tests or biopsies was missed.
Sadly, she wasn’t diagnosed until heavy vaginal bleeding forced her to go to A&E.
She was sent to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital for treatment and while she ‘fought with all her strength’ her family says a faster diagnosis could have been vital to her survival.
Jennifer then had to have a host of different treatments from chemotherapy to radiotherapy.
She also had a pelvic exenteration, a radical operation which stripped out the whole of her bowel, bladder, womb and cervix.
Jennifer spent 78 days in hospital fighting for her life after an aneurysm ruptured in the area of the operation.
