Suzanne Rodgers was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer but has been cancer free for more than a decade.
“I had no symptoms until I had all the symptoms and I was very healthy at the time and was feeling very well in myself,” she told the Good Morning Ulster programme.
“So it was the shock and obviously you’re thinking about your family.
“I count myself very, very fortunate that at the time I got my diagnosis things moved very quickly and I moved from diagnosis to treatment.”
She said every day after getting the diagnosis and before the treatment started felt like “a ticking time-bomb, sitting there because you know that every day this is getting worse, the cancer is potentially growing, the tumour is getting bigger.
“So my heart goes out to anybody who finds themselves in that situation,” she said.
She said she also wanted to “give a positive message to anybody who’s just starting out on that road”.
“You hear all the doom and gloom, but it really is doable, it really can be managed,” she said.
“People need to take responsibility as well,
“Check yourself for lumps and bumps and all the rest of it, because the earlier you can get your diagnosis, then obviously the better chance that you have.
“You can’t control how long it’s going to take before you start your treatment, but you can control or have some positive input into when you discover there is a problem.”