presenter Jo Wilson has revealed she has been diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer as she urges women to get their smear tests.
The Scottish broadcaster, 37, told OK! magazine she received the diagnosis this summer and is undergoing life-saving radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment.
Wilson said she was speaking out during Gynaecological Cancer Awareness month as she feels if she can “save just one other life” then it would be worth her being open about her experience.
The presenter told OK! magazine: “The last person in the public eye with cervical cancer was Jade Goody.
“After Jade’s death, more women went for smear tests, but now one in three who are eligible don’t go. I really want to change that.
“If I can save just one other life by being open about my battle then it’s worth speaking out.”
Wilson revealed she went for a smear test in June and after further tests it was confirmed the next month that she had stage 3b cervical cancer, with the disease having spread to two of her lymph nodes.
The Scottish broadcaster is undergoing life-saving radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)
The Scottish broadcaster is undergoing life-saving radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)
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She said she previously kept up to date with her smear tests but after a traumatic forceps delivery with her daughter Mabel in September 2020, from which they both caught sepsis, she delayed going for a test as she feared “being prodded down there”.
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The presenter, who has been a presenter for Sky Sports News since 2015, recalled that the doctor has confirmed her cancer is “very treatable” and “very curable” which is a fact she says she tries to “hold onto”.
She admitted that the “lack of control can be quite difficult” as the treatment will either work or it might not but she has said she is “trying to live in the present and get this through”.
Wilson added: “It’s terrifying to think I could have put it off even longer. Cervical cancer can be quite slow growing but it’s different for everybody.
“I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I am right now.”
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