Borders family calling for annual smear tests after death of 30-year-old mum of two

The family of a young mother from the Borders who died from cervical cancer are campaigning for women to be given annual smear tests

Fiona Mathewson, from Kelso, passed away in April 2020 after fighting cancer for two years. She was just thirty years old.Currently, women in the UK are given smear tests - the process which checks the health of the cervix and aims to prevent cervical cancer - every three or five years unless issues are detected.Following her death, Fiona's husband, family, and friends are now campaigning for women in the UK to be given smear tests annually.

Fiona and Andrew with their kids Harry and Ivy

"Fiona was completely a-symptomatic, she hadn't shown any symptoms at all," explains husband Andrew."She went for a smear in October 2018 and that's when we had the call to say to go the hospital as soon as she could. From there we found out it was cervical cancer.

"It was devastating, you never want to hear the words cancer. Especially when she was so young. She never had any abnormal smears, she was young, fit, healthy, in the prime of her life."

Fiona did undergo surgery to remove her tumour but cancer had spread to other parts of her body, and she was eventually given a terminal diagnosis. "She had a radical hysterectomy and that was to be it," said Andrew. "The tumour was so small they said they could get it through surgery alone."But then the cancer had spread and in July she was taken in with kidney failure and thats when we found out it had spread to the pipes between her kidneys, bladder and throughout her abdomen. It changed from cervical cancer to stage four metastatic cancer.

"Fiona just loved being a mum" - husband, Andrew

"Fiona was strong, she believed she was going to come through this. But when she heard that, it was just devastating. She just loved being a mum, just loved everything about it."The kids are very young, Ivy (5) sort of has a grasp of what happened, but the only thing we can say to Harry (2) is that mummy is up in the stars."

In the UK, women are invited for smear tests from the age of 25 and are screened every three years until the age of 50. But in Scotland, this was changed in 2020.In March last year, a new smear test was introduced in Scotland which screened for the human papillomavirus (HPV) - the main cause of cervical cancer.

It means women who are clear of HPV will receive a smear test every five years, rather than the previous offering of every three years.

The Scottish government said it was rare for a woman who doesn't have HPV to develop cervical cancer within five years.

Credit: PA

Despite the pandemic, women are being reminded that cervical screenings and smear tests are still taking place and health boards are urging people not to miss their appointments.

But the Mathewson family have started a petition which now has over 140 thousand signatures.They hope that when the UK and Scottish Parliaments begin debating petitions again that it will be pushed through and made law.Andrew says this would be a lasting legacy for Fiona. "By the time Fiona did have her smear it was too late," he added."Harry and Ivy's not going to grow up with a mum now because of this and if we can prevent that happening to any other children that's the main aim of the game."