A mum who was "too scared and embarrassed” to have a smear test has been told she has just months to live after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Tasha Doran successfully battled stage three cervical cancer last year and had been over the moon at beating the disease. But just months after ringing the bell, the 40-year-old experienced "sharp shooting pains" in her groin which worsened over time.
Fearing the worst, the mum-of-one went to see doctors who tragically told her that the cancer had returned. Tasha, from Pembroke Dock, Wales, was given the news that the cancer had spread to her groin, cervix and left lung. She now has months rather than years to live.
“I broke down when they told me,” Tasha said from her home in Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil, which she shares with her 21-year-old son Jamie, a rail worker. “They hadn’t got through telling me before I ran out of the room crying and collapsed to the floor. I can’t describe that feeling.
“I’d been diagnosed in January 2022 with stage three cervical cancer. I had that last year and began treatment in the March. It was an unbelievable feeling ringing the bell in August. It was the best feeling, knowing I could still be here and be cancer-free for my boy - who is my life.
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Tasha Doran lives with her 21-year-old son Jamie (Tasha Doran / Media Wales)“A couple of months later in the October I had sharp shooting pains in my groin which worsened. My oncologist kept telling me it was due to the radiation damage from treatment, but in May I got referred for scans. I had my ultrasound seven weeks ago at the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr and the woman told me it was obvious it was cancer. I then had a PET (positron emission tomography) scan at the Heath and the results showed it had spread through the entirety of my right groin, my cervix and my left lung and that it was terminal.”
Tasha, due to be a grandmother for the first time in December, has been told her cancer is too advanced and isn't curable, and her only option is chemotherapy to prolong her life up to a year. The mum now wants to raise awareness of cervical cancer and the importance of having regular smear tests “even if you feel completely fine”.
“I want to use my voice now to tell people to get tested. Don’t allow this to happen to you," Tasha said.
"I’ve never had a smear test because I was scared, embarrassed and afraid of the result. I know there are so many women out there feeling the same way. I want to tell them: ‘Do it. Please do it. You don’t know what is happening in your body.’”
Cervical screening, known as a smear test, is offered to all women and people with a cervix in the UK on the NHS aged 25 to 64. The test checks a sample of cells from the cervix for types of human papillomavirus (HPV). If high-risk types of HPV are found during screening the sample of cells is also checked for abnormal cell changes.
Tasha has been told her cancer is too advanced and isn't curable (Tasha Doran / Media Wales)“In hindsight I’d had symptoms which I now know are signs of potential cancer, but I didn’t know at the time before my diagnosis last year,” Tasha said. “I had pain during intercourse and heavy bleeding afterwards, I had clots, dry skin and a flakey scalp. I also had athlete's foot and was regularly applying cream, not realising the cause was that my body was so rundown by the cancer.
“While I was struggling at times, life had generally been great. I was always able to be out and about with my friends and family. I often would go to the pub of an evening. But now I’ve got no energy and don’t do a lot at all. I get waves of realisation of what’s happened to me, and sometimes break down.”
Before her chemotherapy begins at Velindre Cancer Centre on October 31, Tasha is going to be joined by her friends in shaving her head to “regain some control”. All of the hair shaved will be donated as wigs for children going through treatment for cancer.
“Cancer is very cruel because it doesn’t just affect the inside of you,” she said. “I’m worried about the side effects on the outside and how after chemo my identity is going to be taken from me really. The mental impact of that is a lot to take.
“My friends Laura and Julia have said they’re going to shave their heads with me. I think they’re mad, but I’m really grateful. I love all of my family and friends who have been so lovely. I’m really proud of them, especially my son. He makes the best of what he has in his life, as I think I have. We’ve made the best of our lives together. He’s a principled man and he’s the biggest achievement of my life. I can’t wait for him to make me a nanny. I’m going to do everything to hang on until then.”
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