'Doctors said I was too young to get cancer - I was diagnosed with two types in three months'
11.03.2023 - 00:15
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A woman who claims she was told by doctors she was 'too young' to get cancer was diagnosed with womb and ovarian cancer within three months of each other.
Gemma Coleman from Bolton originally went to her GP about changes in her period and backache. The 34-year-old said her double diagnosis left her 'absolutely devastated' and urged women to 'trust your gut' and to 'not be afraid to challenge doctors' if they think something isn't right.
Gemma, an executive complaint specialist at the Co-op, first noticed a change in her periods at the beginning of 2020. She says they began getting shorter than normal – but little did she know, this was a warning sign for womb and ovarian cancer.
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“I had a nagging pain on my left side, but it was Covid at the time, so I was working from home – I thought it was just from poor posture because I was sitting on the sofa with my laptop all day," she said.
“I didn’t really think much of it – there was nothing really that was screaming to me like this is cancer, but I was quite concerned about my periods.
Gemma, who lives with her husband of two years, Jack, 36, said her periods were like “clockwork” until that point.
She decided to call her GP straight away and was urgently referred for a scan where it was discovered that she had a three millimetre polyp in her womb.
In March 2021, she had a hysteroscopy to try to remove it, which failed, and another in June 2022 where it fell out. At that point, doctors told Gemma that they did not think it was cancer.
“They said I was too young for cancer, and it wasn’t a concern for them. But my periods hadn’t come back, and I was still worried that it could be