I was told I had an STI but it was actually cervical cancer and I was given just 3 months to live
A MUM was given months to live after being diagnosed with cervical cancer – which doctors initially dismissed as an STI.
When Aisha McClellan started bleeding after sex, she was initially told her symptoms were caused by a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
Battling exhaustion, back pain and continued bleeding despite being given antibiotics, Aisha felt sure there must be something else going on.
After repeatedly demanding a pelvic exam, the mum was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Despite being told the disease was treatable, Aisha’s world came crashing down when she was told the cancer had spread to her lungs and liver.
However, she defied the odds and proved medics wrong as she made a miraculous turnaround to beat the disease – even though she believed she had just three months to live.
Aisha, a project manager from Snow Camp, North Carolina, said: “I was initially angry because I didn’t understand how this could’ve happened when I have been under their care for all this time.
“My anger quickly turned to a degree of sadness that I’ve never experienced.
“I was devastated. I don’t have much family, and I was terrified about who would take care of my kids in the event that I passed away.
“The thought of leaving them made me inconsolable.”
The mum-of-three first started noticing symptoms of cervical cancer in early 2016, when she bled for 10 minutes right after having sex.
She visited a local clinic when it continued happening and she was given a 10-day course of antibiotics – despite no positive result for an STI, she told Glamour.
Usually high energy, the mum continued to feel fatigued and noticed back pain.
She went back to the clinic after bleeding post-sex again and demanded a pelvic exam.
One nurse practitioner said her cervix looked “angry and inflamed,” but it was probably some sort of STI.
A second said there might be mass on Aisha’s cervix.
Eventually, the mum was diagnosed with cervical cancer – when cells in the cervix uncontrollably grow and form a tumour, which usually grows very slowly.
Around 2,700 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in England, according to the NHS.
A second blow
Aisha was allegedly told by health professionals that the cancer was treatable and underwent several rounds.
But months later, the now-40-year-old learned that the cancer had reappeared and grown.
After hearing the news that her cancer had spread to her lungs and liver, Aisha was told she had just three months left with her loved ones.
She had worked incredibly hard to get rid of the initial cervical cancer, doing six rounds of chemotherapy, 25 doses of external radiation and five internal radiation doses.
The mum was left unable to understand how it had resurfaced again.
During her cervical cancer treatment, according to Aisha, medical staff were scanning her solely from the waist down, as the cancer spread to her upper body – leaving her feeling “defeated”.
The scariest thing was just not being here for my children. I didn’t have anyone to take care of them that was the thought that got me out of bed every morning and allowed me to push through
Aisha McClellan
She was allegedly told that “once the cancer spreads, there is nothing they can do to control it”.
She said: “Initially diagnosed with cervical cancer, I was told in the beginning that it was very treatable.
“I completed treatment three months later and was told that I had a good response, the next step was to come back for a follow-up in November.
“When I came back from my follow-up, I found out that my cancer had spread to my lungs and liver, and they didn’t know it was because they were only scanning me from the waist down.”
One of the single mum’s biggest concerns throughout her cancer journey was her children – Lia, Tyler, and Arianna, who are now 19, 18, and 17 respectively.
While undergoing treatment, Aisha lost her job, meaning she had no income, leading her to clean houses with her mum so she could earn a living.
A second chance
Aisha refused to give up hope and fought for a second opinion.
She was given several new rounds of treatments and incorporated vitamins and supplements into her diet, with the intention of trying to make herself feel better.
In a follow-up scan, Aisha was ecstatic to hear the news that she had responded well to the treatment.
By August 10, 2017, her doctor called to say she’d had a complete response to the treatment.
The mum said she felt “extremely grateful” for her second chance at life.
Everything you need to know about the HPV vaccine
The HPV vaccine protects against some of the risky HPV types that can lead to genital warts and cancer.
Gardasil has been the HPV vaccine used in the NHS vaccination programme since 2012. It is protective against nine types of HPV.
For example it is effective against types 16 and 18 which cause around 80 per cent of cervical cancers in the UK.
That’s why it is important for people who have a cervix to still get a smear test when invited by the NHS.
Cervical cancer takes the lives of 854 people a year currently – but this is expected to continue decreasing thanks to the vaccine.
There are around 3,200 new cases of the devastating cancer a year, with peak incidence in women in their early 30s.
But the HPV vaccine doesn’t just prevent cervical cancer – it stops some anal, genital (vaginal and penile), mouth and throat (head and neck) cancers.
These affect both men and women.
Who should take it?
The first dose of the HPV vaccine is routinely offered to girls and boys aged 12 and 13 in school Year 8.
The second dose is offered 6 to 24 months after the 1st dose.
If a school child misses their doses, you can speak to the
school jab team or GP surgery to book as soon as possible.
Anyone who missed their jab can get it up to their 25th birthday.
But people who have the first dose of the HPV vaccine at 15 years of age or above will need to have three doses of the vaccine because they do not respond as well to two doses as younger people do.
The HPV vaccine used to only be given to girls who are at risk of cervical cancer when they are older.
But in 2018, it was announced that boys – who can get HPV-related cancers of the head, nech, anal and genitals – would also be given a jab.
Girls indirectly protect boys against HPV related cancers and genital warts because girls will not pass HPV on to them.
But the programme was extended to further eliminate risk of the virus spreading in the future.
Men who have sex with men (gay and bisexual) do not benefit from this indirect protection, and so are also able to get the HPV vaccine up to the age of 45.
Some transgender people can also get the vaccine.
Those assigned female at birth would have gotten one as a child. But those assigned male at birth could get a jab if they transition to female and have sex with men.
Reflecting on her cancer journey, Aisha said: “Despite only being given three months to live, I fought extremely hard to try to beat my cancer so I could be here for my children.
“My whole goal in life has always been to want to protect my children and make them happy and give them everything they want and need.
“I felt like I was letting them down, but it also caused me to fight that much harder.
“The scariest thing was just not being here for my children. I didn’t have anyone to take care of them if I wasn’t here and that was the thought that got me out of bed every morning and allowed me to push through.
“I never really feared how cancer would affect my body, or what it would do to me personally, it always came back to what it was doing to my children.”