I want to scream and curse because of what happened to 19-year-old Sophie Jones, an aspiring model from the United Kingdom. This beautiful young woman should be alive today and instead she died on Saturday from cancer. Cancer in and of itself makes me want to scream and curse, but what is really awful about this particular case is that Jones was refused a simple test that could have saved her life. Why? Because of her age and it is wrong and now she's dead and I am livid. I think you will be too when you see the last picture of Sophie that was released by her parents.
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In February of last year, Sophie went to doctors complaining of abdominal pains. They incorrectly diagnosed her with Crohn's disease, an inflammation of the bowel. She kept getting worse and after repeated trips to the doctor she begged for a cervical cancer test, but she was denied. The family was told that cervical cancer is so rare in women under 25 that there are concerns that the test does more harm than good for women under that age.
Guess what? Sophie had cervical cancer, but it wasn't diagnosed correctly until November when it had already spread all over her body. It makes me so angry that a young woman asked for a test that could have possibly saved her life and it was denied to her.
I get it that there are risks in giving the tests to younger women, but I'm sure that Sophie was willing to take those risks given the severity of her condition. She was denied a choice and that is wrong. And that denial may be responsible for her death. There is no way of telling if Sophie's life could have been saved had she been given the screening test when she first asked for it, but she should have had the choice.
Her parents started a petition called, "Sophie's Choice" and have gotten enough signatures to have the issue recommended for parlimentary debate. They want the to drop the age of cervical screening from 25 to 16-years-old so that no one has to go through what Sophie went through.
This is what Sophie looked like at the end of her life. What happened to her is not right. Doctors should have listened to her, they should have made an exception.
My condolences to her family. I hope Sophie's story is able to help someone else.
Image via Liverpool Echo
