A MUM-OF-TWO says a smear test saved her life after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Nurse Sarah Johnson was given the devastating news after having the routine five minute test in 2010 when she was 25.

Now she is urging other women to have their smear test after crediting the appointment with saving her life.

Mrs Johnson, who lives with husband Steven Johnson and their two children Libby, nine, and Evie, seven in Clayton-le-Moors , said: “I booked and attended my smear even though I assumed everything was going to be fine. I had no reason to think otherwise. It was far from the most pleasant experience of my life, but after a couple of minutes it was over and done with.

“I received a letter saying that some abnormal cells had been found. Being a nurse I was confident that this was quite a common occurrence.

“I attended for further tests, receiving a phone call on a Friday three weeks later asking me to attend an appointment with my consultant on the Monday.

“I still didn’t think it could be cancer. Not until I heard the words come out of her mouth, the words you could never envisage someone saying to you “I’m sorry to tell you this Sarah but you have cancer.”

After her diagnosis, Mrs Johnson was sent for x-rays and an MRI with the tests confirming that thanks to early detection, the cancer had not spread and was contained to her cervix.

Mrs Johnson,who is a midwife at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust , was then overjoyed to be told by a specialist cancer nurse that doctors had managed to remove her cancer and she no longer had it.

The 33-year-old said: “I didn’t have cancer anymore.

“I could not possibly express into words how wonderful it felt.”

Then eleven months later Mrs Johnson gave birth to the couple’s second child Evie much to her delight after she had been concerned she may not be able to have another baby.

And although having a total abdominal hysterectomy at 28 (to ensure the cancer could not return), means she can never have any more children, she says she is happy that she is here to stay to enjoy her two beautiful children and watch them grow up.

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women aged 35 and under and can be prevented by attending a smear.

Currently in the UK, women are eligible for a smear test from the age of 25 to 64.

Women aged 25 to 49 are invited every three years and women aged 50 to 64 are invited every five years.

But just 68.3 per cent of women aged 25 to 64 in Blackburn with Darwen Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) attended their smears in 2016/17.

Some of the reasons women don’t attend can be through fear, embarrassment or shame, considering themselves as low risk, or not understanding what cervical screening is.

But Mrs Johnson is urging women to attend their smear test.

She added: “My smear saved my life and I quite possibly wouldn’t be here to tell my story if I’d have put it off or waited.

So, I beg you, keep up to date with your smears.

“We are so lucky to have the system we do in

the UK. So many lives have been saved, including mine. Ask every female you know if they are up to date too. “