Coronation Street actress Kym Marsh has opened about a cancer scare she had ten years ago, as she encourages other women to go for their smear tests
It comes after the mum of three implored her fans to take the tests seriously on her Twitter page, during Cervical Cancer Prevention week earlier this month.
Speaking to OK! Magazine, Kym said that the death of Jade Goody from cervical cancer during the same year encouraged her to go for the test.
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Corrie spoilers: week 5
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“I have one every year as I was diagnosed with pre-cancerous cells ten years ago,” she said. “It was back in 2009 and it was the year I lost Archie – Archie died in the February and then Jade Goody passed away from cervical cancer in the March.
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“A few months later, I had my first smear test after losing my son and that’s when I was diagnosed.
“It was horrific but I went and had the cells removed.”
Kym and then-partner Jamie Lomas’s son Archie was stillborn,and she went on to portray an identical storyline in Corrie as her character, Michelle Connor, for which she won a British Soap award.
Speaking at the time, Kym said “It is a cause very close to my heart having lost my beautiful son Archie.
“[But] it was a real challenge, and strange because you spend years trying to get away from it.Baby loss it still a taboo subject, it’s something that people don’t like to discuss. I have been there, I know how it feels to lose a child.”
Taking to her Twitter early this year, she wrote, “It’s cervical cancer prevention week and I cannot stress enough how important it is to go get your smear test.
"It takes a few seconds and it may be uncomfortable and I guess to some embarrassing, but it could SAVE YOUR LIFE!! Heading for mine today. Go get yours! X."