Clare Din was initially told her symptom was caused by menopause
Kate Lally Content Editor
14:26, 31 May 2026
Clare Din(Image: Clare Din/SWNS)
A woman received a stage four cervical cancer diagnosis after her severe bleeding was dismissed as menopause. Clare Din, 49, began experiencing heavy bleeding in May 2024 and was told to book an internal scan following a phone appointment with her GP.
But when she arrived at her surgery, a nurse practitioner told her to cancel the scan after Clare revealed she was also going through the menopause. While the medication initially given seemed to work, Clare’s bleeding continued throughout the next year before she was eventually referred for a scan in May 2025.
Following the scan, Clare experienced catastrophic haemorrhaging and was rushed to A&E resuscitation where she lost 2.5 litres of blood. A biopsy was performed the next day, and in July 2025 she was told she had cancer.
Clare endured “intense” chemotherapy and radiotherapy for 12 weeks. She finished her treatment just before Christmas, with her latest scan showing no evidence of disease.
Clare, who is not currently working, from Stockton-on-Tees, England, said: “The consultant said if we hadn’t had started treatment when we did, they’d have buried me months ago. I finished my treatment the week before Christmas.”
“They’ve now said there’s no evidence of cancer left.” Clare first began experiencing symptoms in May 2024. “I tried a telephone appointment with the doctor – my symptoms were heavy bleeding. I didn’t have my period prior to this because of contraception.
“The doctor suggested having an internal scan. Then I saw the nurse practitioner in person. She asked if I was having menopause symptoms and I said yes and she told me to cancel the scan – she said I didn’t need to go.
“I have really bad medical anxiety – so when I’m told something, I believe it. I took the medication she gave me for the menopause and sure enough the bleeding stopped. Then the bleeding came back when I was due to go on a cruise.
“I saw her again and she increased the tablet and it did stop again.” When the bleeding returned once more, Clare was referred for a scan in May 2025 and a subsequent biopsy.
She recalled: “I had the scan and when she finished, I said I think I may be bleeding. But they said it was the jelly on the probe.
“So, I stood up and it flew out, up the walls, the floor. They asked if I normally bled this heavily and I said no. They took me to A&E – I couldn’t get off the toilet.
“I was that weak and I’d lost that much blood. After 20 minutes a nurse came in and managed to get me off – it was like a murder scene. The next thing I remember was waking up in resus – I’d lost 2.5 litres of blood.
“They were vacuum packing blood into one arm, had a drip in the other. The next day they took me down for the biopsy, but I didn’t know I’d had it done.” Clare had to wait until July for her diagnosis, which arrived via telephone.
She remembered: “They told me over phone I needed to go for a PET scan, and they said I had cancer. They said they could treat me but not cure me as it was stage four.
“I prepared my family that it was terminal. That was an awful time, and we’d all started to prepare ourselves for coming to terms with it.”
Yet when Clare returned to hospital for her scan seven weeks on, she was given a completely different prognosis and went on to have chemotherapy. She said: “Seven weeks later I had the PET scan and the consultant said what I was told on the phone was wrong.
“He said they shouldn’t have said they couldn’t cure me. He said he was going to treat me with an aim to cure me.
“A week later I started intense chemotherapy. I had it for 12 weeks, and the last five weeks I had radiation every single day. When I had the chemo, I decided I wanted to give back to the ward.
“So, I hired a community centre and raised £700 in bake sales, also raised another £300 on Facebook where people could donate, as well as £100 from Slimming World, and money through a raffle totalling about £1400 in total. I would also like to thank the consultant who saved my life – I wouldn’t be here without him.
“If something doesn’t feel right with your health, it probably isn’t, so it’s okay to get checked.”