{"id":522125,"date":"2026-04-09T21:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/522125\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T21:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:03:14","slug":"greenock-woman-ignored-routine-test-for-20-years-then-collapsed-covered-in-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/522125\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenock woman ignored routine test for 20 years – then collapsed ‘covered in blood’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pamela Alexander said she felt ’embarrassed’<\/p>\n

Steven Smith Content Editor<\/p>\n

07:07, 09 Apr 2026Updated 10:14, 09 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Pamela<\/p>\n

Pamela said she tells \u2018everybody to go for smears\u2019 now(Image: Louise Gault Photography\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

A woman who ignored symptoms of irregular periods and heavy bleeding for more than a decade before her cervical cancer diagnosis at 43 has warned others \u201cdon\u2019t be silly like me\u201d and urged everyone to get regular screenings. Pamela Alexander, 56, a support assistant for children with special needs from Greenock, said she got her first cervical screening at 22 \u2013 which came back clear \u2013 but then a \u201cfear of doctors\u201d and \u201cthe embarrassment involved in getting the procedure done\u201d stopped her from ever going back for another one.<\/p>\n

In the years since, Pamela said she was routinely sent NHS letters for follow-up screenings, but she would \u201cthrow them in the bin\u201d, even after she noticed her menstrual symptoms worsening from her mid-30s onwards. By the time Pamela was 43 and throughout the summer of 2012, she said she was experiencing irregular periods, heavy bleeding that was \u201clike turning a tap on\u201d, heavy clotting, back pain, discomfort during sex and spotting, but she still didn\u2019t see a doctor.<\/p>\n

In August 2012, Pamela collapsed in her home and was rushed to hospital, where doctors discovered a tumour \u201cthe size of a tennis ball\u201d and she was initially diagnosed with stage 2B cervical cancer, later upgraded to 3B, meaning it had spread into the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n

Home-cooked meals fight dementia, running for the bus could save your life, there are too many people on Earth, and a surprising new weapon to fight cancer – all this and more in our latest science newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

Pamela told PA Real Life: \u201cThe gynaecologist basically said there was nothing more they could do. The tumour was far too big. It was too embedded in the bladder, the bowel, and the lymph nodes. It was absolutely awful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should have gone and gotten my smears done when those (reminder) cards came in. It\u2019s embarrassing and I feel so much guilt for what I\u2019ve put my family through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pamela said that after she experienced a panic attack going in for her first screening at the age of 22 in 1991, which put her off \u201cever going back\u201d, even after she had her three children and she was encouraged to have screenings via six-week check-ups. When Pamela first started to experience abnormal periods in her mid-30s, she said she felt \u201ctoo busy\u201d with her sales job at the time and childcare responsibilities, so she \u201cput it in the background\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Pamela<\/p>\n

Pamela was told there was \u2018nothing more\u2019 doctors could do(Image: PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say I had symptoms for at least 10 years,\u201d Pamela said, of her life before her cervical cancer diagnosis. \u201cIt got to the point that I couldn\u2019t go to the gym because the bleeding was so bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe a week before I was admitted to hospital, the bleeding just wouldn\u2019t stop. It was like turning a tap on, I\u2019d lost that much blood. But again, I just cleaned up and never told anyone,\u201d Pamela said.<\/p>\n

On August 7, 2012, Pamela couldn\u2019t hide it anymore and collapsed in her hallway while covered in blood, prompting her partner at the time to call for an ambulance. The next day, doctors performed a scan and found the tennis ball-sized tumour in Pamela\u2019s cervix, prompting surgery to assess if the cancer had spread. Coming-to after the operation, Pamela was told that her tumour was so big that nothing could be done \u2013 it couldn\u2019t be removed and she couldn\u2019t have a hysterectomy as she might die during surgery.<\/p>\n

Pamela said: \u201cI remember my friend screaming, but I had instantly accepted it. They said I should basically just go home and spend the remaining time left with my children.”<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of her diagnosis, Pamela said she was talking to her boss, who informed her that she had access to private healthcare, and he encouraged her to \u201cplease go and see someone\u201d to double check \u201cif there\u2019s anything at all that can be done\u201d. This is how she came to access a private specialist, who Pamela said gave her \u201ca 35 per cent chance of survival\u201d through a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and brachytherapy, a type of internal radiation. Pamela said she had an allergic reaction to the first type of chemotherapy she tried that caused her to go into anaphylactic shock, before doctors switched to an alternative form.<\/p>\n

Pamela said: \u201cChemotherapy is bad enough, but brachytherapy was worse than childbirth. It was horrific. That operation is where they have to put you under to insert rods into your cervix, but you are connected to a machine and the brachytherapy is blasted straight through.”<\/p>\n

In terms of side effects, Pamela said she lost her hair, which was a \u201cbig thing\u201d for her, as well as experiencing fatigue, burning sensations while using the toilet and hot flushes from induced menopause. She has also experienced lasting neuropathy that she described as total numbness in her fingers and toes that is \u201clike putting your feet in wet sand\u201d. In April 2013, Pamela said she was \u201cfortunate\u201d to be told that she was in remission.<\/p>\n

Pamela said: \u201cIt was the best feeling ever. Even after five years, I was still convinced that it might come back.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I got to that five-year mark, that was amazing. It was the best feeling in the world. And now I\u2019m just vigilant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, 14 years after her diagnosis \u2013 and just days before her 57th birthday \u2013 Pamela said she was \u201cwell aware how lucky\u201d she was to be alive, especially after ignoring her symptoms for so long.<\/p>\n

\"Pamela<\/p>\n

Pamela Alexander was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 43(Image: Louise Gault Photography\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

Pamela said: \u201cI\u2019ve been left with lifelong disabilities and I\u2019m now registered disabled. Last year, I broke my spine and fractured my pelvis in five places after I just woke up like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described how brittle her bones had been since cancer treatment. Praising NHS England\u2019s rollout of at-home HPV testing last year, Pamela said it would have been a \u201cgame-changer\u201d for her, although she now can\u2019t have them herself because her results would come back abnormal as a survivor of cervical cancer.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI think it\u2019s amazing. I think it\u2019s going to change lives and it\u2019s going to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pamela described the \u201cguilt\u201d she still feels for not acting sooner and warned others: \u201cPlease don\u2019t be silly like me. I tell everybody to go for smears.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just madness not going (to the doctor). A five-minute procedure could save your life. Today, I know that I can go to the doctor for anything and they will listen because they know that I just have so much faith in them now. I have four beautiful grandchildren that I never would have seen if I wasn\u2019t alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pamela is supporting Cancer Research UK\u2019s Race for Life. Go All In against cancer. Go All In to help fund life-saving research. To sign up, visit raceforlife.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pamela Alexander said she felt ’embarrassed’ Steven Smith Content Editor 07:07, 09 Apr 2026Updated 10:14, 09 Apr 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[847,59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-522125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}