While Tasha Doran complained of a dry and flakey scalp and pain with her feet she had no idea what was actually happening inside her body. Just 12 months earlier the mother-of-one and former deli worker from Merthyr Tydfil had rung the bell in overwhelming joy to celebrate the news she was all clear of the stage three cervical cancer that had crept up on her.
Having been “too scared and embarrassed” to have a smear test, Tasha - due to be a grandmother for the first time in December - had a sense of relief that her reluctance to be tested hadn’t claimed her life. Not long after her new post-cancer journey had begun she began to feel “sharp shooting pains” in her groin which specialists told her was a normal response to the radiation therapy that had ravaged her body. But after the pain persisted and she was finally referred for scans she’s been told her cancer has returned and that she has months rather than years to live.
“I broke down when they told me,” the 40-year-old recalled 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.
“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.”
There are around 3,200 new cervical cancer cases in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK, meaning around nine new cases every day. Around half of women diagnosed in the UK survive the disease for 10 years or more, but Tasha 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.
Still unable to fully comprehend what has happened to her, Tasha said she wants to spend the time she has left raising awareness of cervical cancer and the importance of having regular smear tests “even if you feel completely fine”, and enjoying time with her family, including her soon-to-be granddaughter. “I’m going to give her enough cwtches to last a lifetime,” she said.
“I want to use my voice now to tell people to get tested. Don’t allow this to happen to you. 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. If abnormal cells are found they can be treated so they don’t turn cancerous. To get our latest health stories straight to your inbox, subscribe to our dedicated newsletter here.
“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 recalled. “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.”
- If you’d like to make a donation to Tasha and her family to help Tasha create memories for her family and friends, you can visit their fundraising page here.
