A woman who suffered from heavy periods that left her passing a blood clot the size of her hand has revealed how she was diagnosed with a rare tumour.
Sarah White, 25, a recruitment consultant from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, has always suffered from heavy periods but became concerned when she bled on the floor of a restaurant in April 2023.
Four months later, an ultrasound revealed that she had an 8cm benign mass in her uterus and that she would require surgery.
But by January 2024, Sarah’s uterus had nearly tripled in size, growing to 13 cm.
Initially, doctors thought the tumor was benign, but during a three-hour surgery to remove the tumor, they discovered it was a rare form of cancer.
She is currently undergoing a hysterectomy and having her ovaries removed at the same time, which will affect her dream of becoming a mother.
White talks about her experiences with extreme periods: “I had to put my whole life on hold.
“Within half an hour of inserting a tampon, the amount of blood pushed it out.
“I bled on chairs, sheets and my clothes.
“I’m relieved to finally have the diagnosis, but it makes me sad that I can no longer carry a child.”
White had suffered from ‘extremely heavy’ periods since she was 14 and was prescribed medication by her GP to relieve the pain.
Although this did have some impact on managing her symptoms, she was still able to miss ‘a lot’ of school and spend time with her friends.
“I have suffered from painful periods since I was young,” she explains.
“I assumed I was just unlucky and that it would get easier.
“But as I got older, the bleeding became heavier and I was leaking through everything.”
After passing a “huge” clot in April 2023, she knew something was wrong.
“My partner Ryan, 30, and I went out for dinner with his family,” she recalled of the incident.
“When we finished, I felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my stomach.
“When everyone was gone, I stood up and saw that my pants were soaked. I saw the blood dripping onto the floor.
“When I got home, I went to the toilet and saw that my tampon had been pushed out.
“A few moments later, a wad the size of my hand fell to the ground.”
After calling 911 and getting the all-clear from emergency services, White was advised to see her GP, who referred her for an ultrasound in August 2023.
The scan showed a mass in her uterus which was diagnosed a month later as an 8cm benign fibroid, a noncancerous growth.
She was then referred for an MRI scan at OSD Healthcare in Hemel Hempstead for further investigation.
Doctors confirmed she needed surgery to remove the fibroid, but while waiting for a date, White began to faint from severe blood loss.
“I called 111 many times while I was waiting [for surgery] “Because everything kept getting worse,” she explains.
“I lost so much blood, my face was swollen and I could barely walk.
“My period went from 7, to 10, to 21 days – it was horrible.
“I had an emergency ultrasound on January 22nd of this year and my uterus was the size of someone who is 24 weeks pregnant,” she continues.
Doctors couldn’t see my right ovary because there was a mass over it.
“But it had grown to 13 cm in the meantime.”
On February 14, 2024, White underwent an open myomectomy, a procedure that allows surgeons to remove uterine fibroids, at Watford General Hospital in Hertfordshire.
But the mass looked “unusual” and was sent for testing. Later that month, she was diagnosed with low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma, a rare cancerous tumor.
“After my surgery, my periods became less frequent, so when the doctors told me I had a tumor, I was terrified,” she says of her cancer diagnosis.
“Nobody knew if it was all gone and I feared the worst.”
Three weeks later, White went to Hemel Hempstead Hospital for a post-operative CT scan, which revealed that she had an enlarged lymph node in her abdomen and that she would need a full hysterectomy and removal of her ovaries.
“I found out I still had cancer in my uterus and an enlarged lymph node,” she says.
“I was devastated.
“Although the lymph node has returned to its normal size, my cancer is hormonal and so I am at high risk if I do not have the surgery.
“I’m not ready to have a child yet, but I’m devastated that it will never happen.”
White now wants to encourage other women to ‘push’ for answers when something doesn’t feel right.
“I didn’t expect heavy periods to lead to a cancer diagnosis, but I’m so proud of myself for not sitting back,” she says.
“If you feel like something is wrong, don’t agree to it.”
Supplementary SWNS reporting.