I went to the doctor for a routine check-up at 26 and asked a question that led to an aggressive diagnosis of cervical cancer: here’s how it saved my life

A young pharmacist has urged women to keep up to date with screening tests after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had a partial hysterectomy just a year after her last smear test.

Kirsty Browne from Sydney was 26 when she visited her GP just to be on the safe side and asked for a smear test while she was there. She had no symptoms, but doctors had discovered abnormal cells in her early 20s and she had been vigilant with annual tests since then.

That decision saved her life.

Now 35, Ms Browne told FEMAIL about the ‘heart-stopping’ moment she was diagnosed, and how she later gave birth without a cervix, despite being told she might never have children.

“At first I just went in for a prescription for birth control, when I realized I hadn’t been tested in a while,” she said.

‘I thought it was better to be safe, so I asked for a smear test and expected it to be normal again. I could never have imagined what happened next.’

At the time, a Pap smear every two years was recommended for women aged 18 to 70. Now more advanced screening tests for cervical cancer are recommended for women every five years if their previous results are clear.

Three days later, Mrs. Browne received a panicked phone call from her doctor.

“I was told I had to undergo more tests,” she explained. ‘I was so scared. I made an appointment with a specialist who would schedule a cone biopsy, which essentially involves cutting out a large portion of the cervix.”

She was subsequently diagnosed with stage two adenocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of cervical cancer.

“When you’re 26 and you have to go through cancer treatment, one of the first things they tell you is that you’re probably going to be infertile,” she said.

‘It was so hard to hear that because I wanted to start a family. Growing up you think cancer is something you might have to deal with as a grandparent, but realizing I might not even have that chance was devastating.”

Mrs Browne was then at the start of her career and completed her internship year as a pharmacist. She didn’t take much time off work because just lying in bed was “worse” than having to work through her pain.

‘Before they started my treatment, I had to undergo a round of IVF, in case I wanted to have a child later. It was so scary, everything just happened so quickly.”

Mrs Browne discovered that it was better to be busy and get on with her life than to be at home and worry about the reality of her life-threatening illness.

She studied for her exams while lying in bed and tried to stay positive – ultimately passing her tests with flying colors.

“Gynecological cancer is ugly,” she said. ‘I couldn’t walk, I was bleeding constantly, I had to have so many operations on my pelvis.’

Her treatment included long days of radiotherapy and several complicated operations that left her bedridden for weeks.

To combat the cancer in her cervix, Ms Browne was offered a ‘radical’ operation called a trachelectomy, a new technique in 2014.

The operation was Ms Browne’s only option to conceive a child, and involved removing her cervix and surrounding structures, including the top of her vagina and lymph nodes, and then suturing the base of her uterus.

‘As a scientist, I couldn’t understand how to have a baby with half of its uterus attached to each other with a steel clip.

‘It was the beginning of my life, I couldn’t imagine it would be the end. I was also so worried about my future. I thought: how can I find someone if I can’t bear a child?’

Ms Browne had met someone three weeks before her diagnosis, but she was not in a serious relationship at the time.

Despite her fears, Mrs Browne met her husband, Murray, two years later while she was recovering, and the couple soon welcomed a baby boy, Baxter, without having to do IVF.

Ms Browne was one of the first women in Australia to give birth without a cervix; The pregnancy had few complications, but at 25 weeks she was given bed rest.

‘Given what I’ve been through, I never expected this to happen to me. My son, Baxter, was born healthy and I just couldn’t believe it.”

Looking back, one of the “happiest” experiences during her cancer journey was spending time with the people who showed up for her.

“My fondest memories are of the friends who came to the cancer ward and sat with me for hours.

‘I felt very happy. I saw a lot of people who no one came to visit and it made me appreciate the people in my life even more.’

Ms Browne is urging women to get screened regularly to reduce the risk of experiencing the same thing she did.

“It changed my life forever,” she said.