Over the last three days, we have been featuring the story of 26-year-old cervical cancer sufferer Samantha Hickling, who has been told she has just months to live. She hopes that sharing her tale will encourage other women to attend routine smear tests and get any symptoms they are concerned about check out. Today, she explains her hopes for the future…
The day after she landed back in the UK, Sam returned to the hospital and soon began the first of what was meant to be six further bouts of chemotherapy.
"It made me so ill this time around," she said. "It ruins your immune system and I ended up very ill in hospital during the second course.
"My temperature fell to 34C. I crawled into the shower when Sam was in the kitchen and put it on hot to try and warm myself up. That was when he called the ambulance.
"I ended up having lots of blood transfusions and platelet injections. It was a horrible time."
After the second round of chemo, Sam's health was so poor that doctors explained she would not be able to continue with the treatment and told her that the cervical and lymph node cancers had grown.
She began experiencing excruciating pain in her legs caused by the swollen lymph node, and was confined to a wheelchair by Christmas. She was also told a new tumour was blocking her kidneys, reducing their functionality to 34 per cent.
But despite all this, Sam remains incredibly positive – both about her future and the way what has happened to her could help others.
She added: "Now that conventional medicine can't help me anymore, we've been trying various supplements and unorthodox treatments, which I have great faith in.
"Sometimes I do sit and wonder why this happened to me, but there's no point dwelling on it. I am determined to continue fighting and am optimistic that with the help of my husband, Sam, my family and my friends, I can still beat it.
"I just hope what has happened to me will encourage other women to get their symptoms checked and to get diagnosed earlier.
"That would mean something positive has come of this."
Roger Parkin, Samantha's dad added, " I have never seen such a prolonged display of courage & positivity under such awful circumstances, we are all so incredibly proud of Sammy.
Samantha would like to thank all of her family and friends for their care and support and Jo's Trust – which is dedicated to promoting awareness of cervical cancer and providing support for sufferers – for their help.
To find out more, visit www.jostrust.org.uk
