Abagail’s Journey
Abagail was diagnosed with stage 2 cervical cancer in 2018 when she was 38 years old. She was referred to The Royal Marsden and underwent chemotherapy and radiation.
I think the most frightening words ever spoken to me were “you have cancer”. I remember sitting opposite Dr Jane Bridges, at the Bupa Hospital in Brompton Road in February 2018. I literally just kept saying the F bomb a million times and then just had this paralysing fear moved over my whole body. I literally went numb.
I never in a million years thought that would be the outcome of a routine pap smear in South Africa, December 2017, which showed some abnormal cells. We go back to South Africa three times a year during holidays as my husband's family’s business is based in SA. I always had a pap smear when I went back, it’s just always been part of my medical routine check-up. I have the HPV virus so I have always been very on it with getting checked every year.
I had a call back to say my gynaecologist wasn’t happy, some of the cells had returned abnormal. I had a procedure called a Colposcopy, where they put a liquid dye into your cervix to show up any abnormal cells. She saw that there was something there and said she’d rather have a look under anaesthetic and take a biopsy.
This biopsy showed that I had Adenocarcinoma cervical cancer, which hadn’t even crossed my mind to be honest, because I had really very few symptoms. I suppose in hindsight, I had a bit of spotting during sex and a bit of discharge, but I didn’t really think anything of it at the time.
My daughter was four at the time of my diagnosis and as any mother would understand that even the faintest idea that there was all of a sudden a possibility you weren’t going to be around to watch your daughter grow up was beyond any emotion I could put into words.
Abagail with her husband Paul, daughter Rose, and dog Mia.
I was booked in the next week to have 2 scans an MRI and a PET scan. I went to the Royal Marsden in Sutton, where I had a special MRI scan specifically for cervical cancer because they wanted to see how much it had spread and where it was heading. They needed to see if we could just remove the bottom half of my cervix or if I would need a full hysterectomy.
I think that was probably the hardest part because I had the scans and then I had to wait about 13 days to find out if the cancer had spread and what the next steps would be. My husband Paul and I still refer to it as the 13 days of HELL.
Dr Ing told us it was Stage IIA and that it was very treatable. I had a 95% chance of a full recovery I was beyond ecstatic and thought ‘game on cancer, time we got rid of you.’
This was also the day I met Andreia Fernandes who became my oncology nurse and honestly she was just so wonderful. I have never met anyone so committed to her job and the wellbeing of her patients. She is what I describe as an Earth Angel.
I did my 25 days of radiation. I did four sets of chemo and I never felt bad. I remember my mom sent me a famous Winston Churchill Quote… “when you are going through hell, keep going.” I loved this and often read it on days during treatment when I was feeling flat.
Then I had two sessions of brachytherapy afterwards, where they put tubes into the tumour area and they blasted again with radiation, you needed to stay overnight at the Royal Marsden for these two procedures. It was over in six weeks, from start to finish. When they went in to do the brachytherapy, they said that the cancer had already disappeared.
I was really lucky that treatment was successful, all the scans showed that it was gone.
Abagail and Andreia Fernandes
I used to love going to the hospital for treatment as I felt that I was killing the tumour a little more every time I went in for radiation or chemo. My Mom had flown over from South Africa to be with me for my treatment and I remember the first time I went for radiation I was just so excited to get on with it. I had a pre-consultation and walked out into the waiting room where a couple of other people were waiting and just said out loud, “Well isn’t this a fun way to spend a Friday afternoon next week I’ll bring the champagne” only one lady laughed and my Mom burst into tears. I popped my Mom and I down next to the lady that laughed and she and I became the best of friends from that day. We became treatment buddies as our treatment ran concurrently with each other.
At one point, I couldn’t wait to go in to get my treatment every day because you’re fighting it. Then it moves on to ‘I never want to go back there again in my life’. The day I finished my radiation, I was like, you guys have been amazing, but I never want to see you ever again unless it’s in a pub!
Initially, I had a three-month scan post-treatment and then went into the Royal Marsden every three months for the first year and every four months in the second year. Then I had a scan after two years post-treatment. They said that because of the form of cancer I had, if that scan was clear I was very much out the woods and the cancer would not be coming back.
We moved back to South Africa for six months in 2021 because we had been separated from our families for over 18 months due to the pandemic.
While in South Africa I had some spotting and that totally freaked me out and I phoned Andreia. We couldn’t get back to the UK because of COVID and she told me to go and see a gynaecologist. They said I was absolutely fine and weren’t worried about anything.
I went and saw Andreia as soon as we returned from South Africa in January 2022.
I feel privileged when I look back and think how certain things happen in life and how I ended up under the care of The Royal Marsden. I think there are sometimes these little gifts in life that put you in the right place at the right time, even when life isn’t going according to plan and you have been dealt a bad card. I always kept trying to find the positive in the situation.
You make the best out of a bad situation and meeting the people I have through treatment and meeting people who have had cancer, you instantly have a connection with them.
Paul and I live a happy life with our daughter, Rose and dog, Mia. We spend a lot of time in South Africa going back 2-3 times a year. Paul has been amazingly supportive and has stood by my side every step of the way.