Every year at the end of August, Emma Hutt holds a party at her home in Cardenden to celebrate a poignant moment in her life.
The mum-of-two organises a family gathering to toast August 31 – as it was on this date three and a half years ago that she was given the all-clear from cervical cancer.
“I want to celebrate what I’ve gone through and who I am at the end of it all,” the 39-year-old explains.
“I feel I’ve survived the worst thing I’ve ever had to go through in life and now I feel I can almost get through anything life throws at me.”
She added: “I know there is a theory of waiting until the five-year mark, which means you are then totally cancer-free.
“But from my experience, if there is no cancer in your body each year, why not celebrate that?”
What cervical cancer symptoms did Emma have?
In October 2019 Emma started having a niggling pain in her lower back.
But at the time, she just put it down to her workouts at Aeternum Crossfit Gym in Lochgelly where she trains several times a week.
“I had a bit of a sore back but I put it down to the training,” she said.
“But because it wasn’t severe, I didn’t give it a lot of thought.
“This was until I had my smear test at the end of October 2019.”
Emma had her smear done at her local GP’s, Wallsgreen Medical Practice.
A short time afterwards, Emma received a letter telling her that abnormal cells had been found.
She then had a biopsy taken at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.
“The guy who did the biopsy said that young girls come in with abnormal cells all the time and that it doesn’t necessarily mean cancer.
“So my mind was pretty eased by what he said.”
When Emma found out she had cervical cancer
But in December the Fife Council senior employability officer had a phone call asking her to go back into hospital.
When Emma went in, it was the same medical professional who had performed the biopsy and he had a female staff member with him.
“His words were basically: ‘I am going to tell you some news which is going to upset you’,” she explains.
“I had this horrible feeling in my gut. And then the female staff member who was with him came and sat next to me.
“He told me they had found cancer cells. I remember he handed me a booklet on cervical cancer. But to be honest, I couldn’t take anything in. I was in complete shock.
“Afterwards I phoned my husband Lee, 41, and asked him to come in to the hospital.
“I remember thinking how will I tell my family?”
Emma told her shocked husband the news when he arrived at the hospital.
And both were informed that she would go for a more in-depth scan.
MRI scan at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
On January 8, 2020 Emma had an MRI scan at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy.
“I got a phone call and was told that the cancerous tumour they found inside my cervix was one and a half centimetres.”
She was then told she would need to have a ‘radical’ hysterectomy.
Emma explained it was referred to as ‘radical’ because they would also be removing 17 lymph nodes to prevent any recurrence of the cancer.
“When I was told the size of the tumour I thought that is small and it has been caught early.
“So when I was told this operation would help prevent the cancer returning, I was definitely all for it.
“I was fine with having a hysterectomy because I had already had my two children, Brody, 10, and Bonnie, 5.”
Having a ‘radical’ hysterectomy
Emma had the six hour operation at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy in February that year. Staff struggled to wake up the mum-of-two after the operation, meaning she was placed in a high dependency unit for two days.
Emma believes this was due to the trauma the operation had caused to her body.
“I was in a lot of pain when I woke up and ended up getting a blood transfusion because my iron levels were quite low.
“But I have to say I was well looked after.”
Emma spent a week in hospital before being discharged and later told the operation had been successful.
“But they were slightly worried because the tumour had been sitting close to a blood vessel,” she explains.
“So they wanted to offer me cancer treatment to prevent any recurrence.
“It was five weeks of radiation, chemotherapy and brachytherapy [targeted internal radiation therapy] ”
Emma’s treatment for cervical cancer
From April, Emma had radiation treatment for five days over a period of five weeks. Every Tuesday she would have chemotherapy while near the end of the five weeks she had three sessions of brachytherapy.
“The chemo made me feel very sick.
“But no matter how ill I felt, I would get up every morning and put my make up on.
“I just wanted to keep everything as normal as possible for my kids.
“My youngest, Bonnie, was only a year and a half at the time and my son Brody was seven going on eight.”
Emma said she and her husband made the decision not to tell their children about her cancer, as they were too young to understand.
“They were aware something was going on and that I had something in my tummy that needed to be taken out.
“But we never told them it was cancer.
“My daughter was too young at the time but as Brody has become older, he has asked the occasional question.
How did her son deal with the experience?
“The only reason he has asked is because the Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman died from cancer and my son loves his superheroes.
“I have never spoken to him about my cancer but I think he has heard conversations between me and my husband.
“On one occasion he asked me: “Black Panther is a superhero mummy, so how come he died and you didn’t?
“I remember him asking me that question and he was about eight at the time.
“It took me by surprise.
“I can’t remember how I responded. I think I maybe downplayed it or changed the subject.”
She added: “But If he did ask me any questions now, I would be honest with him.”
Finishing treatment
In June 2020 Emma finished her treatment and this was followed by an MRI scan.
She got the results at the end of August and they revealed her body was cancer-free.
“It was really good to hear this news and I felt so relieved.”
To mark Cervical Cancer Awareness month this January, Emma hopes her story will not only raise awareness of the disease, but she is also wanting to highlight the importance of smear tests, given what happened to her.
“I don’t know why there can sometimes be a stigma around smear test,” she says.
“I’m not sure if it’s because women have such busy lives and they feel they don’t have time to fit it in.
“Or maybe it is embarrassment.”
She added: “But it takes five minutes and they can pick up things up you might not be aware of.
“Can you imagine what might have happened to me had I not had that smear test?
“This is why I am so glad I went when I did.”
