Woman with cervical cancer issues plea from hospice bed after missing decade of screenings
ITV News Meridian's Kerry Swain spoke to Hannah who says she would be "over the moon" if her story made just one woman go for a cervical screening
A woman who has terminal cervical cancer has spoken from her hospice bed in Hampshire to plead with other women to go for their cervical screening.
Hannah Smith, 44, missed her appointments for at least a decade as she was living on the streets.
Hannah, who is from Eastleigh, turned to drugs and became homeless when her parents died of cancer.
She says although it's too late for her, she wants to save other women's lives.
"I need to let women know that the five minutes saves their lives. It's an uncomfortable feeling but at the end of the day it saves their lives.
"I didn't go to mine, and that's why I'm in the situation I'm in.
"Whatever time I've got left, I can't go through that time knowing that I've done nothing, I need to do something."
Hannah says she's "devastated", "upset with herself" and "gutted" that she did not go to have a screening 10 years ago.
"I kept putting it off and kept thinking I'll do it tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes."
She believes her cancer could have been prevented if she had had gone for a screening sooner.
She said: "I hadn't had a smear test for a long time and I went to the doctors because I actually had chest problems for a while and I was losing a bit of weight and it started from there really.
"The next thing I know is, I was taken to hospital and told there was a big cancerous mass.
"I can't let this happen to anyone else, I can't.
Hannah is being cared for at the Mountbatten Hospice in West End, Southampton.
She says the treatment she has had is "fantastic" and she "wouldn't want to be anywhere else".
Hannah says if she can make even just one woman go for a cervical screening then she would be "over the moon".
Dr Susan Goddard, GP, Solent NHS Trust said: "Hannah's message is incredibly important to women.
"We've got a disease here that is preventable and we need to get everyone getting their smears done nice and regularly, preferably on time but if it's late it doesn't matter just get them done."
People between the ages of 25 and 64 are invited for regular cervical screening under the NHS Cervical Screening Programme.
Those registered as female with their GP practice and aged 25 to 49 are invited for routine screening every three years.
Those registered as female with their GP practice and aged 50 to 64 are invited for routine screening every five years.
For more information about the cervical screening programme, visit the NHS website.
The following charities offer help and advice about cervical cancer: