[Cat purring]

[Piano music]

I’m Nicola Craffey, age 30

and I live in Shaw in Oldham in Greater Manchester.

I was diagnosed with cervical cancer

on the 10th of April 2008.

It was a routine check-up that I went for at my GPs,

to actually have my blood pressure checked

and while I was there, I was curious

of when the last time it was that I had a smear test.

So I spoke to my GP and he looked on the system

and noticed I was 18 months overdue for one.

They were very relaxed about it because I had one when I was 23

and that was absolutely fine – it was all clear.

So they did a routine smear test on that day

which came back with abnormalities.

Two weeks later I was at work and started to feel very unwell

and was sent home from work and had a haemorrhage

and was taken down to theatre at Oldham Hospital

and they stopped the bleeding there.

When I came out of theatre the consultant,

and my next of kin and my family were all in the room,

and that’s when they told me they had found a tumour.

After three weeks I was sent home.

It was then that I returned to Oldham to meet my cancer team

and they discussed the future treatments,

which was surgery, which couldn’t be done at Oldham,

so I went in to have a radical hysterectomy

at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester.

They explained to me very early on that

I would be losing my fertility, before I even went for my pre-op.

I thought that that would be something that I would be absolutely devastated about

because children are something that

I’ve always wanted and something that I had seen in my future.

But when you’re actually faced with this, and you know that if you don’t have this operation,

there’s a chance that you might die,

it puts everything into a different perspective.

So I agreed with them that that was absolutely the best thing to do

because me not being here at 27

would have been the end of the world for a lot of people,

but me not being a mum isn’t.

[Music]

I think I cope really, really well, but I am only human.

I do have really bad days.

There are days that I do get really down and things get on top of me, especially if my leg’s really sore.

Also, hormonally, as well it can be very difficult.

So as time’s gone on and obviously everything’s improving and I’m getting much better.

I’ve been in remission for two years now

and I’m all clear of cancer.

I had a lot of help from Macmillan.

My nurse, that does all of the lymphoedema treatment, and treats my leg,

She is actually for Macmillan and she’s just fantastic

but I think of her as more of a friend.

So because of all of the support Macmillan has done,

I’m now giving my time to them as well, as a volunteer.

[Music]

I’m feeling absolutely fantastic about my future.

I’m really, really positive about it.

Obviously I’m aware I’m living with lymphoedema

and going through menopause and can’t have children

due to the cancer diagnosis that I had.

But when you’re in this situation and you’ve been through extensive treatment and surgery

and you have had a cancer diagnosis,

everything else just seems a bit unimportant

and every day that you have you just absolutely love – that you’re alive and that you’re well.

And I’m really just looking forward to helping

other people that have been in my situation in the future.

[New speaker] For information, help, or if you just want to chat,

call the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, or visit Macmillan.org.uk