Woman, 22, whose mum had cervical cancer told she’s ‘too young’ for smear test

A 22-year-old woman has hit out at the NHS for denying her a smear test – despite her mum suffering from advanced cervical cancer as a teenager.

Doctors won't test Demi-Lee Stewart because the testing threshold is 25 and she is three years short of that.

They are refusing to carry out the simple procedure – even though she has been suffering bleeding between periods, lower back pain for two years and has a family history of the killer disease.

Her mum Lynn, 53, almost died aged 19 after having Demi-Lee's older sister Melissa when medics discovered cancerous cells on her cervix as she gave birth.

She was told she needed a hysterectomy but was cured when the cells were burnt off instead.

Now Demi-Lee, from Glasgow, Scotland, fears she may too have the disease – but says no-one will help her because of her age.

The mum-of-one is now looking to go private to get the test but says women with a family history of cervical cancer are not being listened to.

She said: "I told them about the history of my mum having it. My doctor said 'You're only 21' and I said 'I'm 22 in two weeks' time'

"She said 'It doesn't matter, you're not 25, we cannot do a smear.'

"What am I supposed to do? I'm worried sick about it."

And she added: "On every TV screen the thing they're flagging up now is that if you've got worrying symptoms please see your doctor straight away and get a routine smear.

"There are posters and there are leaflets, but when you go to your doctor, they refuse you. Its ridiculous."

Demi-Lee started suffering symptoms a year after the birth of her first baby Braxton, now three.

At first her GP said it may be hormones from her contraception.

She swapped from the contraceptive implant to the pill and when that didn't work, she changed to another pill.

When that didn't work she swapped onto the injection before then trying the coil, but no change stopped the bleeding.

Eleven months ago she quit contraception completely but has now been bleeding non-stop for three weeks.

Demi-Lee, who is a service advisor for Mercedes Benz, said her partner of six years, Ronald Shaw, 23, was also worried sick.

She says her GP at Westmuir Medical Centre in Park Head, Glasgow, has recommended an internal scan, but she says that will not show signs of cell changes.

Demi-Leigh added: "Girls refuse to go for smears, yet I am doing the right thing. They need to take it more seriously.

"The last five weeks things have just got worse and worse. I'm bleeding every day. I feel so tired.

"I've started a new job and been off sick. I'm anaemic. People do get it young and my mum is proof."

What is cervical cancer?

Cervical cancer is when abnormal cells in the lining of the cervix grow in an uncontrolled way.

The main symptom is unusual bleeding from the vagina.

Around 3,200 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the UK each year. That's around 9 cases diagnosed every day.

Finding changes in the cells through screening can help to prevent cancer developing.

Cervical cancer is more common in younger women. More than half of the cervical cancer cases in the UK each year are diagnosed in women under the age of 45.

Treatment depends on where in the cervix the cancer is, how big it is, whether it has spread anywhere else in the body and general health.

Usually surgery is needed or a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy (chemoradiotherapy).

A colposcopy is a simple procedure used to look at the cervix, the lower part of the womb at the top of the vagina.

It's often done if cervical screening finds abnormal cells in your cervix.

The age for smear tests in Scotland has been brought in line with the UK and is 25.

It was raised from 20 in 2016 – but campaigners say that it should be lowered back to 20 as women that young do develop it.

Critics have responded by saying it would be too expensive to test everyone from 20 onwards.

A spokeswoman for her GP said: "We would firstly like to say that we are saddened and concerned to learn that one of our patients was less than happy with the level of service that they received.

"Unfortunately due to patient confidentiality we cannot comment on individual cases."

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde did not want to add anything.

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