As we approach Cervical Screening Awareness Week, we take a look back at David Tennant's wife Georgia's experience with cancer in 2018.
In 2020, the actress - who met her husband on the set of Doctor Who - opened up about going for cervical screening a few years prior and discovering she had cancer.
She shared a throwback snap of herself in a hospital gown from 2018 and explained how testing early saved her life.
"Here I am on 22nd February 2018. Although 'tis indeed a fetching look, if you'd like to learn more about why you should never miss a smear test please read the story attached in bio," she shared.
"#cervicalscreeningawarenessweek #smeartest #cervicalcancer."
She also went into more detail on her journey on her blog, where she described how she felt during the colposcopy.
At the time she wrote: “So those of you who know me, know I like to share but those of you who don't, will know I like to keep things private.
"This particular private thing however, I feel must be shared. A few weeks ago I received an abnormal smear result. 'Borderline changes' to be exact.
“Before I’d made it up upstairs to tell my husband, I’d started planning my funeral. Having kids takes you to that place pretty quickly I find.”
She was booked in for a colposcopy, which is a procedure to take a closer look at a person's cervix.
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Georgia added: "He takes the biopsy. Man that hurt! But I now realise I’m in a slightly different world. I can’t tell whether it’s this or the smarting cervix but I start to cry. ‘It’s not cancer’ he says. ‘But neither is it borderline’ Ok so it’s not cancer. That’s great! What everyone wants to hear, surely? So why am I crying?!"
“Clothed again I sit in front of him. He tells me how terribly hard it is for a woman when something goes wrong in the area which makes her a woman. My results finally come through. I have what’s called CIN 2. ‘Pre-Cancer’.
“I’ve had what’s called a ‘Cervical excision’. This removes a section of the affected cervix which should in the 97 percent of all cases, solve the problem. Fingers crossed, I’m fixed. Sorted.”
Two weeks later, the star returned to her blog to issue an update and explained she did in fact have cancer.
She wrote: "The lovely doctor called yesterday. Results are back. It was cancer. They’ve got it all but it was cancer.
“My betraying little cervix had begun an attempt to kill me off and by a stroke of baffling luck I had stopped it, beat it, cut it out before it had a chance to make it out of the starting gate.
“Survived cancer without ever realising I had it. As you can tell I’m still processing this, it’s quite a thing to get your head round.”
Georgia shared her story in hopes of encouraging others to attend a cervical screening and regular check-ups.
Cervical Screening Awareness Week falls between June 20 and 26.
Cervical cancer is usually found through a routine Pap smear. During this procedure, your doctor will collect a sample of cells from your cervix in order to check for abnormalities.
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