A COURAGEOUS cancer survivor has opened up about her battle with the "invisible" illness which affects thousands of women each year.

Joanne Jagger, 45, from Dalton was first diagnosed with cervical cancer last November - which was only spotted by doctors after she underwent a hysterectomy.

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Since finishing treatment, Mrs Jagger is now determined to get patients and survivors to share their experiences of cervical and gynaecological cancers.

She is also urging women to get even the smallest symptoms checked out after medics initially thought her contraceptive coil and history of heavy periods were to blame.

She said: "You know your own body, so don't wait a month or for another appointment; it is easy to think it is something else but cancer spreads.

"People do find it hard to talk about because of the nature of it, but there isn't anything to be embarrassed about.

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"We need to be realistic; people die of it, I mean Jade Goody did.”

The Buttermere Drive resident believes women find it easy to ignore the signs of gynaecological cancers because they often share traits with other illnesses.

She believes more campaigning is vital to bring cervical cancer into the spotlight and raise awareness.

"I felt invisible, it is the invisible cancer," she said.

"You don't lose your hair or have mastectomies like breast cancer, people can't see our surgery because it's internal.

"But radio therapy burns your insides and causes a lot of pain and a lot of problems afterwards, but people never see how bad you really are so they don't know."

Mrs Jagger began attending cancer support group COVE with her sister in February, once her treatment was completed.

She now runs the group, having taking over the reigns from its previous leader Yvonne Bewley. Mrs Jagger decided to rebrand the group, promoting it online in the hopes of attracting more members.

'Recover and Rediscover' still embodies what COVE support group initially set out to do and they have distributed leaflets and cards across hospitals and GP surgeries to let people know they are there to help.

"The group is like a safety net; they know what you are feeling.

"We are happy for anyone come along and we have opened it for other cancers too, so men can come," she added.

The group meets fortnightly on Thursdays - call Joanne on 07710 250 183 for more details.

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