At the beginning of September 2015, I was lucky enough to be on TV with The Eve Appeal CEO, Athena Lamnisos. We were talking about the stigma that women feel that is attached to gynae cancers and sexual history, with some women feeling that they may be labelled as promiscuous.
I was diagnosed with womb cancer (also called uterine or endometrial cancer) in January 2012 and finished my treatment at the beginning of May that year. At no time was I ever asked about my sexual history, and to be honest, it never entered my head that someone might associate womb cancer with promiscuity. I think that possibly this stigma stemmed from the fact that some years ago, it was mentioned in the media that cervical cancer was due to a woman having many sexual partners. In fact, the HPV virus which is transmitted through sex and causes cervical cancer, can be transmitted by having sex with just one partner if he is infected; the chance of developing it is only increased if women have unprotected sex with many partners.
A couple of months ago, it was reported in the media that the jump in cases of womb cancer being diagnosed could be attributed to obesity. I must admit, my cage gets a bit rattled when this happens. I was not overweight at all and I still developed it.
Around 40% of cancers can actually be attributed to women carrying excess fat in their bodies but this still leaves 60% of cases where it can’t.
I get worried every time the obesity link hits the headlines. I imagine women all over the world thinking ‘I’m not overweight, so I’m ok’. Whether or not this happens, I don’t know. But it does worry me. How many women get lulled into a false sense of security by this?
There are several indicators for developing womb cancer, some of them are being overweight, not having had children, having diabetes, being unfit, being over 60 and having gone through the menopause. The only one of those that applied to me was that I had just gone through the menopause. I was 52 years of age, slim, my children were grown up and I run marathons as a hobby. I had done 5 in 2011 along with all the training that entailed and turns out that I was actually developing the disease at the time. Another marathon runner friend of mine hadn’t even gone through the menopause, had had children, and was slim; but she still unfortunately developed womb cancer.
Now there is a link between excess fat in our bodies and oestrogen. Many womb cancers are oestrogen receptive and the excess fat in our bodies produces oestrogen-like substances and stores it and many of the foods we eat contain phyto-oestrogens (e.g. soya, sesame seed, black bean sauce etc).
So instead of pumping the media full of ‘obesity causes cancer’ headlines, why aren’t women fed the whole truth? If women know the danger of excess fat and that link with womb cancer, then surely it enables us to decide for ourselves about our lifestyles – we can make informed decisions. All too often we see adverts on the TV telling us that the best way to avoid cancer is to lose weight but there is no explanation as to why. That really stumps me! Tell us why!
Now, this is where it gets really complicated. There are women who are overweight and develop womb cancer that is not oestrogen receptive. There are many women who develop womb cancer in their twenties, thirties and forties. Some have had children although some haven’t. Then there is me; my cancer was oestrogen receptive as was my runner friend’s. The ‘rules’ aren’t really being followed are they then?
So where does this leave us really? To be honest, I always tell women that womb cancer is indiscriminate. I was on the Victoria Derbyshire show saying just that (or so I like to think!) a couple of months ago; we all need to be aware of what is going on in our bodies. One of the symptoms of womb cancer is excessive bleeding. But bleeding after sex or between our menstrual cycles is also a symptom as is generally feeling unwell. We ladies need to know our bodies and if something changes we need to get ourselves checked out. We should research the facts about womb cancer.
Many GPs still consider women to be ‘too young’ to have anything serious wrong with them if they are under 60 so women need to know the symptoms and be proactive with their doctors. I was lucky. I told my GP what was going on and she referred me for an urgent scan but others are not so lucky. Womb cancer, if caught in the early stages can be dealt with by surgery with no need for radiotherapy or chemotherapy and the problems they cause during and after treatment. Admittedly, at the moment the solution is total hysterectomy but I know I, for one, was just so glad to get that bleeding out of the way! But then again, I was in my fifties and not in my thirties having had no children yet. It’s such a minefield of emotions
Action on Womb Cancer is a charity that is in the process of being set up. It is the only dedicated womb cancer charity and we aim to provide support and awareness of the disease. We have a Facebook page and also have a private (completely private!) support group on there. If you have been diagnosed you can message us through the page and get added. In the group you will find a wealth of support and experience as we have women of all ages and at varying stages of treatment and recovery. As many of us are having menopausal symptoms (mainly due to surgery) we experience sleepless night so sometimes we are around in the middle of the night where, quite often, there is nowhere to voice your fears.
We also like to remember some of our ladies who have not been so fortunate and are no longer with us. They are remembered daily and are always in our thoughts.
RIP our fabulous Peach Sisters