NEED TO KNOW
Clare Din experienced severe bleeding for over a year before being diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer
Doctors initially dismissed her symptoms as menopause-related and delayed necessary scans and treatment
After intensive chemotherapy and radiation, Clare is now urging others to advocate for their health
A woman was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer after doctors told her she didn’t need any medical scans.
In May 2024, Clare Din — a 49-year-old from Stockton-on-Tees, England — started experiencing heavy bleeding when she decided to call her doctor. While on the phone, she was advised to make an appointment for an internal scan.
However, when she visited her general practitioner, she was told getting the scan was unnecessary.
“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,” she told Southwest News Service. “I have really bad medical anxiety, so when I’m told something, I believe it.”
Clare was prescribed menopause medication and the bleeding ultimately stopped. But it wasn’t long before it returned. Throughout the following year, Clare would often experience bouts of heavy bleeding and, in response, her dosage of medication was increased.
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Clare Din
Credit: Clare Din/SWNS
When her condition didn’t improve, she was finally sent in for scans in May 2025. At that point, Clare’s bleeding was severe.
“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,” she recalled. “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.”
Clare started bleeding so much that she was rushed to the emergency room from her appointment.
“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,” she continued. “The next thing I remember was waking up in resus — I’d lost 2.5 liters of blood. They were vacuum packing blood into one arm, had a drip in the other.”
While in the hospital, Clare underwent a biopsy and had to wait weeks for her results.
Clare Din undergoing treatment
Credit: Clare Din/SWNS
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In July 2025, Clare was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer.
“They told me over the 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,” she explained. “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.”
Despite the prognosis, about seven weeks later, a consultant told Clare that her previous doctors were wrong, and he’d do his best to cure her. She underwent 12 weeks of intensive chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation. She completed treatment shortly before Christmas 2025 and is now doing well.
“The consultant said if we hadn’t started treatment when we did, they’d have buried me months ago,” she said. “They’ve now said there’s no evidence of cancer left.”
Clare told the outlet that she’s incredibly thankful for the consultant who “saved my life,” and encouraged others to advocate for themselves so they don’t go through the same experience.
“I wouldn’t be here without him,” she said. “If something doesn’t feel right with your health, it probably isn’t, so it’s okay to get checked.”
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