Denied the Test That Saves Lives ; Twice Katie Asked for a Smear Test, but Was Told She Was 'Too Young' to Need One. Now 24, She Is Dying From Cervical Cancer, One of Many Young Women Who Have Fallen Victim to a Scandalous Change in Health Policy

Daily Mail › June 10, 2008

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Summary

ONE YEAR ago Katie Hilliard was a typical 20-something -- working in the City, going out with friends from university and generally just having fun.

But the 24-year-old now has cervical cancer and despite a hysterectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the disease has spread to her lymph nodes and lungs. Doctors have given Katie at best two years; at worst 11 months.

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Extract

Denied the Test That Saves Lives ; Twice Katie Asked for a Smear Test, but Was Told She Was 'Too Young' to Need One. Now 24, She Is Dying From Cervical Cancer, One of Many Young Women Who Have Fallen Victim to a Scandalous Change in Health Policy

'They have not been very positive about the future,' she says simply.

What makes her story even more tragic is that cervical cancer, if detected early, is a preventable disease. In fact, Katie had actually requested a smear test -- used to detect the pre-cancerous cell changes linked to the disease -- twice in the four years before her diagnosis. Yet each time she was refused, because she was 'too young'.

Too young to be eligible for a smear test, saved in the hope that she goes into though not to...

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