Her life was changed forever by devastating cervical cancer which could have been prevented if smear test results had been properly reported.
Now, this Ashington woman says she hopes her story could help save the lives of other women.
Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has admitted a breach of duty after wrongly recording Shona Clark's smear test as negative, when it should have shown borderline changes.
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If the test had been reported correctly, tests for cancer-causing HPV (human papillomavirus) would have been carried out. If the virus had been detected at that early stage she'd have been sent to a doctor - and it's likely it could have been stopped before she had to undergo gruelling treatment for cervical cancer.
Shona, now 44, went for the routine smear test in 2015, and was relieved when results came back negative. But over the next few years, she began to experience worrying symptoms.
Her periods became more frequent and heavier, and she suffered from tiredness and headaches.
Shona said: "I knew there was something wrong and I just kept going back and forward, back and forward. I even began to doubt myself: doctors were putting it down to all sorts of things and I started thinking 'is it me, am I losing my mind?' I wondered if it was down to mental health issues, but I just knew something wasn't right.
"I was so, so tired, it even started to affect my relationships, I wasn't going out, wasn't seeing friends."
Eventually, a doctor told her she might have cancer and agreed to send her for further tests "for peace of mind".
Instead, the scan confirmed terrible news: she had cancer, stage two adenocarcinoma.
Although she'd known something was wrong, the result still came as a "huge shock" to accounts manager Shona and her husband Ken. She had to undergo months of gruelling treatment, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and brachytherapy, as well as a hysterectomy. She was left unable to have children and living with ongoing side effects.
She said: “The treatment was really difficult. I had chemotherapy every Monday for five weeks which lasted for around 11 hours and which I found very draining.
"The brachytherapy was extremely uncomfortable and painful. Since my treatment I’ve been left with burns on my skin and experience significant pain in all of my joints.
"I used to be confident and enjoy going out. I would go to the gym three times a week or go out shopping or meet friends. However, because of the ongoing pain I can’t go to the gym and do almost all of my shopping online as I can’t carry bags.
“I can’t thank Ken and my family enough for all the support they have given me over the past few years. Without them I’m not sure I would have been able to cope.
“The hardest thing to try and accept is that if my test had been recorded accurately I probably wouldn’t have had to go through a lot of what I have.."
Suspecting something had gone wrong, Shona instructed expert medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the case, which led to the admission from the hospital trust.
"I got the answers, I didn't want money or anything, I just breathed a sigh of relief to know that I was right," she said.
"I want to make other people aware that they need to push: if something is not right, push and push to get help.
"You know your own body and if you feel something is not right, get it checked out. With me, even my mother was saying something was not right. Eventually, a doctor sent me for a scan for peace of mind and, thankfully, it saved my life.
"If my story could even save one other person then I'll know I've done my job. All I want from this is for people to be aware, and for the hospital to look at how they are delivering these results so it doesn't happen again."
Shona, along with the legal team who helped her, is now supporting Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, encouraging people to attend smear tests and emphasising that "early detection and treatment is key to beating cancer".
She said: “Even though my result was misreported it’s vital that women attend regular smears. I just hope that by sharing my story I can help others and show that support is available.”
She also shared her thanks for the help of the "amazing" teams at cancer charities Maggie's and Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, as well as the "absolutely fantastic" medical staff who treated her at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.
A spokeswoman for the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We can confirm Ms Clark’s smear test was incorrectly classed as negative in 2015 and we sincerely apologise for any shortcomings in her care and treatment as a result.”
Cervical Cancer Prevention Weeks runs from January 17-23. For more information visit the Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust website at https://www.jostrust.org.uk/
You can find out more about cervical cancer screening, including possible new changes, in our story here.
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