Rugby mum starts petition to lower smear test age after screening picked up life-threatening cervical cancer

Hundreds back Daniielle’s campaign to help save lives
Recovering at home with her six children.Recovering at home with her six children.
Recovering at home with her six children.

A Rugby mum who is recovering from a life-saving operation for cervical cancer has launched a petition to save other girls and women going through the same ‘nightmare’.

Hundreds of people have already signed Daniielle Saunders’ petition to lower the age of smear tests, which is currently 25.

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She said: “Girls are dying because they are not having smear tests early enough.

She had surgery to save her life.She had surgery to save her life.
She had surgery to save her life.

"We have a long way to go, but I really hope that it goes far enough for important people to then relook at the pros and cons to changing it. It's vital and hugely important.”

Daniielle, 30, said young women shouldn't be losing their lives or chances of having a family because they don’t go for cervical screening.

"They are becoming sexually active younger,” she added.

"HPV is a virus (essentially an STI) caught by having intimate relationships. Eighty per cent of women get HPV, yet they don’t know and the virus doesn't require treatment as it fights itself off.”

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said HPV causes precancerous cells that eventually turn to cancerous cells if left untreated.

"Another thing that's not realised is mental health; stress and anxiety is a reason that prevents your body fighting the virus. If you’re run down, your body can't fight it so it won't go away which is where it can become a problem. Also, women don't always wait to get married and have children, so women of younger ages have children now, late teens early 20s and having children can also create changes in the cervix so they should be offered a smear test.”

Daniielle, who has six young children, is recovering at home after a five hour operation at University Hospital in Walsgrave to treat her cancer.

“Thanks to my smear, I'm here and I've been given a second chance at life,” she said.

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"My advice to girls and women is don't be scared and don't feel embarrassed; that one smear could save you from death.”

The main symptom of this type of cancer is unusual bleeding from the vagina. Finding changes in the cells through screening can help to prevent cancer developing.

To read about cervical cancer symptoms, visit https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cervical-cancer/symptoms