Emily’s Journey
I’m taking part in the London to Brighton bike ride in the summer of 2025 and wanted to raise awareness for a charity that’s close to my heart.
In 2023 I had an abnormal smear test result, which lead to me having to have procedures to check for cancerous cells in my cervix. This was super scary, especially as this was my first ever smear when I turned 25 years old. It turned out to be a very small amount of changes to my cells, meaning I just had to have more regular smears than usual going forward to keep an eye on things.
Fast forward to summer 2024, I was experiencing symptoms I hadn’t had before and went to see my GP. I knew my body and I knew something was wrong, however after back and forth to my GP I was continuously told there was no concern and the symptoms I was experiencing were just “hormonal”. My symptoms worsened and I returned back to my GP demanding a second smear and to be referred to gynaecology.
After a year and a half of back and forth, with no doctors taking me seriously and being put on gynaecology waiting lists that were 9-12 months long, I was finally referred. After lots of fighting and demanding to be seen, I have now received treatment and procedures to remove pre-cancerous cells in my cervix and other gynaecological issues that would have been missed or ignored if I hadn’t have been so persistent with my doctors.
Today, and every day, 60 women in the UK will receive the life changing news of a gynaecological cancer diagnosis.
The Lady Garden Foundation is on a mission to raise significant funds for research that can drastically reduce the diagnoses and devastating outcomes of gynaecological cancers and gynaecological health issues for women everywhere.
Women’s health just isn’t taken seriously and everything is brushed off as hormonal or a contraception pill side effect. Too often women's symptoms are dismissed by doctors and it can be hard to have the confidence to advocate for yourself when a medical professional says there isn't anything wrong. This is a huge aspect that the Lady Garden Foundation are trying to change; empowering women with the knowledge that they know their bodies more than anyone and to continue pushing to get heard if something is abnormal for them.
Any donation, big or small, is so appreciated and will help towards education and awareness of women’s health and drastically reducing diagnoses and devastating outcomes of ignored symptoms of all gynaecological issues.