Bethany Dinardo

I was diagnosed in Apr 2005. I had always had clear smear tests but had an 'abnormal' result around Xmas time. I followed up on the result to try and get it sorted out as quickly as possible. We had got married in June 04 and had come back from our honeymoon in Dec 04 and were ready start a family. Thankfully I pushed to get an early routine follow up but further investigation led to my diagnosis of cervical cancer. I ended up being rushed into hospital due to heavy bleeding and then got transferred to the Royal Marsden where I would be due to have my treatment. From there, there was diagnostic tests to establish the extent and stage of the cancer. I was diagonsed with locally advanced cancer which was inoperable and therfore would need an agressive treatment plan of chemotherapy and external and internal radiotherapy.

My husband and I were desperate to do whatever we could to preserve my ability to have children. Unfortunately we didn't have time to wait to have any fertility treatment but the doctors did perform an operation where my ovaries were moved. The hope was that if they were out of the field of radiation then we would then be able to think about surrogacy as an option of bein able to have children of our own. This was an procedure that was performed whilst having lymph nodes removed from my abdomen and groin, etc.

After a short recovery time from this op, then the daily radiotherapy started. This involved going to the hospital everyday to have a blast of radiation. Every week I would also have a day where I was given chemotherapy. By the end of this 6 weeks of treatment I was feeling the side effects and had a lot of fatigue and other problems. So much so that I was given a blood transfusion....on our 1st wedding anniversary. This made me feel a lot better and stronger to face the last part of the treatment of the internal radiotherpay. This is where they put you to sleep and inserts rods into the body and into the tumour. You then have to remain immobile and in isolation for a number of hours....over 24 hours in my case! This was a particularly gruelling procedure and since it's at the end of the whole treatment plan, I was at my weakest. I stayed in hospital for a few days to regain my strength afterwards and then went home to recuperate.

Up until the latter stages of my treatment I had continued to work and found work a great way of escaping the whole cancer nightmare. I'm a very social person and being at home on my own, I felt very isolated.

So after all the treatment, it was question of waiting a few weeks before the first follow up to see if the treatments had worked. The tumour had responded but not as well as was hoped. I had 6 week appointments with my oncologist and response continued to be slow, but at least it was responding. Sadly we found out that the operation to try and preserve my fertility hadn't worked....not only would I never be able to have children but also would be in premature menopause and all the problems that brings. For my husband and me particularly, this has been the hardest thing to deal with as part of my diagnosis. Never being ableto have our children is something that I don't think I will ever be able to fully recover from.

You soon learn that as a cancer patient that you also dealing with a chronic condition and the chemo and radiotherapy is just the first but agressive stage of treatment. Having such a disease and treaments has an effect on your long term health and has led to a number of problems and side effects that I have to live with and try and control with either drugs, and/or lifestyle changes. However, this is a small price to pay for being alive!!

Jo's Trust has been a great comfort to me during my illness and continues to be a fantastic place to meet other women who are going through similar experiences. Collectively we are able to support each other and provide: advice, words of wisdom, shoulder to cry on, humour and much more that even the most loving of friends and family can't offer.