A 26-year-old festival fan noticed that she was bleeding after sex and initially put it down to her new contraception.
Jasmin McKee said it was down to her newly fitted coil, but medical tests revealed that it was a result of stage three cancer.
The Brit underwent a cervical screening test in February last year after putting it off for months and decided to have an IUD, also known as a copper coil, placed into her uterus too, a form of contraception.
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But when she started to experience bleeding after sex, Jasmin attributed it to her new coil at first, before months of tests revealed the horrific truth.
She would eventually be told that she had stage three cervical cancer, which was when her 'world stopped moving'.
Jasmin, who is from Southampton, began chemotherapy in April this year, and made her own GoFundMe page to pay for aspects like her bills, food, and rent while she won't be able to work.
The music enthusiast wishes she could attend gigs this year but has urged women to get cervical screenings as soon as they can to avoid similar situations.
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As explained by the NHS, cervical cancer can be found anywhere in the cervix, and is most prevalent in women aged 30 to 35.
Symptoms include pain in your lower back, pelvis, or lower tummy, pain or bleeding during sex, and changed in vaginal discharge.
Cervical screenings are offered to women between the ages of 25 and 64 through the NHS.
"It's one of those things you never really think will happen to you and then it does," Jasmin admitted, adding that she put the screening off due to nerves.
She went on: "None of my friends had turned 25 so I was the first one to do it but it was quite easy and I also had my coil put in at the same time.
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"Before I had the coil fitted I'd had quite heavy periods and bad back pain and would be really tired but I always put it down to hormones and my period."
Looking back, she remembered bleeding after sex following the IUD being put in, and noted that while she was given a 'long sheet of information of potential side effects', she didn't read it.
Noting that 'no-one ever wants to think the worst', she brushed it off, but the screening would reveal some abnormal cells, with a biopsy showing that they had a high risk of developing into cancer.
The cancer diagnosis came in September 2024, with the 26-year-old deciding to start chemotherapy instead of having a hysterectomy so she could have children one day.
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Two months later, she received a stage three diagnosis and underwent laser treatment.
She compared her situation to Walter White's in the popular AMC show Breaking Bad, explaining: "The way they show it is very accurate, it's like the world stops moving a little bit."
"It's that numb feeling, I don't think I've stopped feeling like that. It's like I'm living in 'the in-between'," she added.
Jasmin froze her eggs in February 2025 after laser treatment didn't remove enough of the cancer and began radiotherapy.
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Following the two cycles of chemotherapy that she has undergone since April 2025, she decided to donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust charity, as well as the £2,000 she raised.
"I kept thinking 'I don't want to do chemo because I don't want to lose my hair'," she admitted.
"In hindsight, hair is just hair and it will grow back. I thought 'if I'm going to lose my hair I might as well do it on my terms and do something good with it'."
When speaking about her future, she was told by doctors that she won't be able to have children naturally.
"I would like to think I'd settle down and want to have children so looking ahead, it's that uncertainty of not knowing how that's going to play out," Jasmin said.
Calling the financial burden 'worrying', with concerns about paying for living expenses while she fights the diagnosis, she issued a message to other women to get a screening done.
Jasmin stated: "You can sit and overthink it and you might read other women's experiences online but it's so easy to do. It's literally 10 to 15 minutes of your time and it can save your life."
You can donate to Jasmin's GoFundMe page here.
Joshua Nair