'Doctors thought I had an STI - the reality was even more heartbreaking'
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With the 21st to 28th January marking Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, one woman has opened up about her experience of the disease. For 35-year-old Vikki Ellis, encouraging others to attend cervical screenings has become a passion after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer when she was just 25. Over 10 years ago, Vikki was excitedly looking forward to going travelling with her long-term partner Scott when she began experiencing symptoms including lower back pain and pelvic pain.
![[Vikki Ellis]](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/article34526692.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_royalmarsden_87230282265.jpg)
“I hadn’t heard of cervical cancer until I was watching Big Brother and Jade Goody was pulled off. But when a few years later I started experiencing symptoms, I still didn’t have any information. There was nothing online like there is today. The information out there was almost nonexistent to me,” she recalls.
![[Vikki Ellis]](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/article34526694.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_royalmarsden_90699189990.jpg)
Having started developing these symptoms at the age of 23, Vikki began searching for answers. Although there are around 3,300 new cervical cancer cases in the UK every year, the mum-of-one found that getting a diagnosis wasn’t easy - particularly due to her age.
![[Vikki Ellis]](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/article34526695.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_royalmarsden_82646135877.jpg)
“I went to the doctors and I got palmed off with the fact that I was too young to have a smear. I was almost told that it wouldn't be cervical cancer because I was ‘too young’,” she says. “On multiple occasions I got sent to STI clinics even though I’d been with my now-husband Scott for years. Every time I was there, it was just humiliating for me because it was almost like they were accusing one of us of having an affair. Obviously those results came back negative.”.
