A life cut short

Natalie Murphy, who fought a battle with cervical cancer

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A HEARTBROKEN mother is calling for the Government to lower the minimum age for smear tests following the tragic death of her daughter.

Natalie Murphy (27) died at Dr Kershaw’s Hospice following a battle with cervical cancer.

Until 2004, cervical cancer tests were every three years from the age of 20.

Since then screening has been limited to women aged 25 and over because so few under-25s were found to have the disease. That meant Natalie didn't qualify for tests when she wasyounger.

Natalie, of Coleridge Road, Sholver, who has a nine-year-old daughter, Chanel, first became eligible for the test in May, 2010, when she was found to have cervical cancer.

She had been feeling unwell for some months before but hadn’t been offered a smear test.

Her first test showed the cancer had already spread, though not to other organs.

Her mum Dawn believes an earlier test would have detected pre-cancerous or early stage cancer, when treatment would have had a high survival rate.

Natalie’s cancer had spread to a lung by January, and she died on July 15.

Local health trusts cannot lower the age limit until the Government changes national policy.

Dawn said: “It’s just wrong — it’s an injustice.

“I would love to start some kind of campaign because so many people feel strongly about lowering the age for these tests.”

Natalie worked in the dementia unit at St George’s Care Home.

She loved dancing and was a member of the Pennine Cascades until May, 2011, when she left to join the Buckley Belles — where she carried on, despite her illness.

Dawn is now the legal guardian of her grandaughter.

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