A Dublin woman revealed how she found out she had cervical cancer because of a dream.
Tallaght woman Shannon Murphy woke up in a panic after a very realistic dream about being diagnosed with the disease one morning in March last year. The dream was so realistic it pushed her to immediately make an appointment for a smear test.
Shannon told Dublin Live: "The dream felt so real. I woke up in a panic and told my mum. She was like don’t be ridiculous, it’s only a dream. I booked an appointment anyway."
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The mum-of-five had only just given birth six months ago and was eligible for a smear test. After undergoing the test, she received a letter in the post saying she had CIN 2 which are moderately abnormal cells on the surface of her cervix.
Shannon, who works in a deli, said: "I went in for a biopsy in April and they said the results would take six weeks." The day before her 28th birthday, Shannon received a phone call that would change her life.
She said: "In June I got a call saying: ‘I know it’s your birthday tomorrow and I’m sorry to ring you but can you come in to the hospital?’
"I asked her if I had cancer and she said, ‘You know I can’t say anything to you. Make sure you bring somebody with you’." A terrified Shannon didn't sleep the whole night.
She said: "I kept trying to tell myself that maybe she was going to ask me to come in for another test or she was going to say I’ll have to come back for a smear in six months or a year but I knew in my head that I actually do have cancer." Shannon went in with her mum and was told she had cervical cancer even though she had received the HPV vaccine.
"The girl in the clinic asked me what had brought me in for the test and I said a dream. She said, ‘Oh that’s crazy!’ " Shannon was referred to a doctor who asked her if she wanted to go for a hysterectomy or chemotherapy.
She said: "I already had five kids all together so I told him to do what he had to do. I just wanted to be there for my kids. I went for another biopsy."
After Shannon underwent the hysterectomy, she was given the all-clear from her doctor who said she would no longer require chemotherapy. She added: "He just told me to come back for smears. He had said we have to keep an eye on you for the next 15 years because I could come out of remission."
The doctor told her that she was lucky to have gotten the test when she did. She added: "He said if I had left it any longer it would have been a completely different outcome. I just didn’t know that smears were that important."
For Shannon, the whole thing is nothing short of a miracle. She said: "I had no signs, I had no symptoms. It was so normal. I felt really fit because I had started exercising to lose weight. I was actually feeling better than I had ever felt in my life.
"I was eating properly and going to the gym every morning. I would’ve never thought to myself anything was wrong." Looking back she shuddered at the moment she nearly left the clinic before her smear test.
"When I was in the waiting room, there was a queue. I was like, ‘I’m leaving. I’m not going to do this’ because I was so scared.
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"I told the reception behind the counter I was running out the door and she was like, ‘Please don’t do that’. I told her I didn’t even need it and she said, ‘No, you need it. Please sit down’."
But Shannon said she was glad she went through with it because her smear test was done within seconds. She also praised her doctor, Dr Waseem Kamran, who was a great support to her through the whole process.
She said: "Thank god for my doctor. I would’ve been so lost had it not been for him.
"My doctor was so straightforward with me. He was great. He’d never leave me waiting for anything. He would tell me what was going on."
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