A mum diagnosed with stage four endometrial cancer has revealed the symptoms missed by her smear test which women should “get checked”. Michelle Hancock, 32, has never heard of endometrial cancer – which usually starts in the lining of the womb and is most common in post-menopausal women.
She experienced heavy bleeding between periods for a couple of weeks – but was still able to go about a normal life, including going on holiday. Mum-of-one Michelle had a clear smear test, so the last thing she was expecting was a cancer diagnosis.
Following six rounds of palliative chemo, hormone treatment and surgery on her stomach, Michelle was given the all-clear against the odds. However, she said she suffered from ‘scanxiety’ when her check-up scans were due.
Now she said she would be monitored for the next five years – and is encouraging other young women to learn the warning signs. Smear tests are not used to screen for endometrial cancer – but results sometimes show signs of an abnormal endometrium, prompting further tests.
Michelle, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, said: “It just came out of nowhere really. I was in shock because it was cancer and I had no clue what type of cancer it was.
“I’d never heard of it – it’s usually an older woman’s cancer. But it’s not found in younger women until the later stages because they’re not looking for it.
“The symptoms are easily missed because they’re about post-menopausal bleeding – young women with symptoms should get checked. It all happened really quickly, at the end of July I had a phone call saying it was inoperable and they were going to do six rounds of palliative chemo to extend my life.
“[The chemo] worked really well and I’ve now had two clear scans – but it was never meant to go to clear in the first place. I’m fine up until scans are due and then the ‘scanxiety’ sets in – at one point I wouldn’t make plans more than two weeks in advance. It’s affecting more and more younger people, but they don’t know about it – none of my friends had heard about it.”
Michelle, a carer, said her symptoms first started in June 2022 after returning from a holiday to Turkey in May. She said she experienced heavy bleeding between periods for a couple of weeks and was left feeling weak.
As she’d recently had a clear smear test, she said doctors told her it was “probably fibroids” but gave her a blood test and ultrasound to double check. She said following the ultrasound it all changed and she was told she had stage four endometrial cancer, which had metastasised to her lungs and lymph nodes in her stomach.
She was offered palliative chemotherapy and an operation on her stomach, which cleared all the tumours apart from in one lung – and in October 2023 she underwent an operation to clear the lung metastasis too. Incredibly, in January she had a clear CT and PET scan and was told she was in remission.
“I never knew I was going to get a clear scan so now it’s almost like waiting for recurrence,” said Michelle. “Now I’m mostly positive, but feel like I’m waiting for the shoe to fall – in the May I was in Turkey going down waterslides without realising there was cancer everywhere.
“Cramping, breathlessness, mainly bleeding in-between periods and any abnormal discharge are all symptoms. Family history of endometrial cancer and a family history of bowel cancer can be a link to this cancer as well.”
Endometrial cancer is most common in people who’ve gone through menopause – and the average age of menopause is 51.
