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I'm in agony six years after treatment for anal cancer

BBC News·8 months ago
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A woman diagnosed with anal cancer has said she thought she was going to die after being left in agony following pelvic radiotherapy treatment. Trish Prosser, 57, said her vaginal walls closed over and she is still dealing with the pain six years on. The mum-of-four said she was too embarrassed to tell loved ones about the type of cancer she had as she felt there was a stigma surrounding anal cancer. Anal cancer is rare, with about 1,500 people diagnosed in the UK each year, and approximately 40-50 of those cases are from Northern Ireland. "People are too embarrassed to talk about issues down below or in their bottoms, it can be embarrassing even taboo, but I want to help break the stigma," Trish said. Being diagnosed in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Trish said it was a lonely cancer journey and it's only recently that she can talk about the trauma. "I may have looked normal on the outside as I didn't lose my hair, but I felt awful on the inside, I just felt I was falling apart," she said.…

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