Christine's story
Christine was just 39 when diagnosed with womb cancer back in 2024. She shares how Penny Brohn UK supported her following her surgical treatment.
It all began when I noticed that my periods were getting heavier. But it’s so easy to think that it’s just something “normal”, especially after having children, because many of my mum friends were also experiencing heavier periods.
When I began spotting between periods, I went to the GP with my concerns as I have a history of cancer in my family. My father died of cancer when I was 12. Looking back, I think I’d always had a low hum of anxiety my entire life that I could get cancer.
After some examination, I was told it wasn’t likely to be cancer due to the fact I was under 40. However, they agreed to send me for a hysteroscopy, more for the removal of the polyps than a fear that it could be cancer. I took their professional input as reassurance and told the rest of my family that it was just a polyp and waited.
I waited for 6 months for the hysteroscopy. But as my symptoms worsened significantly, I escalated it directly with the hospital and was seen soon after.
When I finally had the procedure, I still thought it was simply polyps as so many others in my family had also had them. It was then a real shock to learn it wasn’t just a polyp, but was cancer.
Everything moved very fast after that point, many thanks to the surgical oncology team I had. I had my surgery to remove the cancer within 3 weeks, and they found that the cancer was present in one of my ovaries as well. They hadn’t expected to find it elsewhere, and so I had to go in for another surgery to ensure there were no traces of cancer left.
My experience of seeing my father have, and die from, cancer also enabled me to better support my children. They were just 6 and 9 at the time. I didn’t want to transmit any of the anxiety I felt back then through my father’s cancer journey to them. I’m a lover of reading, and so I researched books that could support me in explaining to them what was happening.
There was a specific book, ‘Cancer Party’ by Sara Olsher, that really helped me to talk it through with them. It went into a little bit of the science, but also kept it quite simple so they could understand. I’m so glad I was able to give them that so that they could see that cancer was in a way ‘normal’ and that there was hope in all of the fear.
In all this, I went through the variety of emotions from very “lucky” to being really angry at all the waiting. The support of the oncology team through treatment was fantastic.
When all my results/scans came back clear, and that there was no need for further treatment, the yo-yo of emotions was even stronger. I had been waiting for the all clear, but suddenly felt I didn’t know what to do, especially when I was kept on a PIFU. I hadn’t expected that as the second unrelated cancer in my ovary had been such a shock.
The old and surreal feeling of anger was back. That if it was caught earlier, there could have been a chance of keeping my ovaries. Then I would guilt myself for how the anger, sadness and fear were still swirling around when I really “should be” celebrating.
Because of all the emotional turmoil, and also due to another autoimmune condition I have, I wanted to find something that could really support me from a holistic perspective. I’d had various appointments with both Oncology and Rheumatology to try and support me with my symptoms, and especially to prevent the recurrence of cancer. But somehow, I felt that the integrated care I sought wasn’t available.
It was through the GP surgery cancer link worker that I found Penny Brohn UK. She had reached out just to see how I was, and our conversation was so healing, and very human.
I was first seen by an integrative Doctor, Helen, at Penny Brohn UK. I immediately had that validation and somebody to really hear and listen to my concerns. I knew I was in the right place.
She viewed me as the whole person, gave me different steps to follow and ideas of what I should investigate to take back to discuss with the teams at the hospital. She also suggested other mind/body techniques that I hadn’t tried before such as acupuncture and somatic therapy. As someone who enjoys reading and learning, this really suited my style of dealing with things, and I was so grateful to her for that.
Alongside the Doctor appointments, I undertook online hypnotherapy sessions for almost a year. The Wellbeing Lead at Penny Brohn UK, Janey, was really good and was able to tailor some of the exercise specifically to me. With a history of lupus, my immune system was significantly impacted, and she was able to tweak some of the exercises and help me to really trust my body.
I’m so thankful to Penny Brohn UK for offering me that mind/body connection that seemed lacking, especially in the post-treatment care within the hospital oncology setting. I really felt seen, heard and supported on the next phase of cancer that isn’t talked about enough, and something I’d like to create more awareness of.
It was also clear that this wasn’t just about me as a “patient”, or just me as a person – but also me as a Mum. They are able to offer bursaries for parents (through the Nicola Corry Support Fund) for things like childcare and travel costs, which is so important because I can now see how cancer can truly impact the whole family.
I will be following on with the balanced approach to health and wellbeing that Penny Brohn UK has to help me in this new phase of life. I’m also keen to help to drive awareness for cancer in young people. You only have to switch on the TV or read social media to see how many younger people are being diagnosed with cancer these days, and the prevention and follow-up is lacking. I’m hopeful to try and find a way that we as patients can help to create a better system.
I’m also really hopeful that one day I will be able to get to an in-person session at the Penny Brohn UK Centre – when I can fit it in around work and the kids!
We’d like to thank each of our clients for sharing their experience. The words used in each case study are preferred by the client featured. Penny Brohn UK encourages everyone to use their own words to tell their story. If you have any questions about any of the language used, please email comms@pennybrohn.org.uk.