In May 2010 I was diagnosed with uterine cancer which came as a massive shock.

When I found out that I had uterine cancer it felt like it wasn’t me. It felt completely surreal and it felt totally, totally shocking. That’s the only way that I can describe it, it was completely shocking and totally disastrous. It felt like my whole world had collapsed.

All I heard were the words ‘uterine cancer’. I couldn’t even remember what the consultant had said next.

My biggest worries were telling my family, telling my parents. My sister was with me when I was diagnosed and she just burst into tears.

I don’t know how I got home and how I was able to tell my family and talk to my nearest and dearest about my symptoms and my future treatment. I don’t know what happened. Because it’s almost like I went into auto pilot.

I just felt as though someone had stabbed a knife into my heart, just there and then.

I went into shock. I asked them to check everything, to review their notes again, because I couldn’t quite believe that it was me that they were talking to because I always believed that I was a healthy person up until that point.

My main feelings were dread and fear. Like most people I thought that I was going to die, and it just felt like this was going to be the end of my world.

It’s that memory, that particular day, that time, everything I remember about that day. And it’s something that I carry with me all the time.

I never smoked, I never drank, I wasn’t obese. I’d always been very careful and health conscious.