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A mother-of-two developed vulval cancer <\/a>from her extreme skin condition – but her symptoms were dismissed for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Clare Baumhauer, 44, from Erith, Kent, had itchy genitals since she was a teenager – but was told it was just thrush, herpes or cystitis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After being too embarrassed to visit her doctor for years, she eventually sought medical advice when she was in her early 30s when she developed an ulcer.<\/p>\n
It was caused by a tear slightly bigger than a 50-pence coin, and led to her being diagnosed with a tumour between her vagina and bottom.<\/p>\n
But it took nearly 10 years before she was told the news last March. Doctors said it was caused by lichen sclerosis – which was mistaken for the host of conditions.<\/p>\n
Despite now being in remission, endless bouts of radiotherapy to kill the cancerous cells triggered a ‘tough’ early menopause.<\/p>\n
Speaking for the first time about her ordeal, Mrs Baumhauer said: ‘I’d never heard of vulval cancer. Actually, I’d never heard of a vulva.<\/p>\n
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Clare Baumhauer, 44, from Erith, Kent, had itchy genitals since she was a teenager – but was told it was just thrush, herpes or cystitis<\/p>\n
‘I was horrified when I was diagnosed. I immediately thought, ‘it’s terminal, I have cancer. I am going to die”.’<\/p>\n
She said that sitting down had begun to hurt, as the sore ulcer had in fact doubled in size and had raised edges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mrs Baumhauer said: ‘I thought that I would be sent to a GUM clinic and questioned about my sexual history.<\/p>\n
Women who have children after the age of 30 face a greater…<\/span> Where do YOU gain weight? Tummy fat is risky for black women…<\/span> Should women going through the menopause get special…<\/span> Why joining a book club may stave off dementia: Keeping the…<\/span> ‘But I was actually referred to a gynaecologist to be examined \u2013 who consequently wanted to perform an urgent biopsy of my vulva.<\/p>\n ‘As a result, I had three punch biopsy in a short period of time, where I was eventually diagnosed with a skin condition called lichen sclerosis. This is what ultimately caused my vulval cancer to develop.’\u00a0<\/p>\n Triggered an early menopause\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n She added: ‘I’m delighted to be cancer-free. However, the menopause coming on so suddenly is tough.<\/p>\n It wasn’t until she developed an ulcer, caused by a tear slightly bigger than a 50-pence coin, that she was diagnosed with a tumour between her vagina and bottom (pictured with her husband Matthew, 45, daughter Chloe, 18, and son Ben, 13)<\/p>\n ‘My hair has thinned and I’ve had hot sweats. But, compared to cancer, I can deal with it. I’m just glad I’m alive.’\u00a0<\/p>\n \n \n Mrs Baumhauer added: ‘I never missed a smear, and they all came back clear, so I thought it was just thrush.<\/p>\n ‘I had two Caesarean births with my daughter Chloe (18) and son Ben (13) and nothing was picked up then.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘I’d see adverts on television for thrush creams and cystitis medicines and they made me think that problems down there were common.’\u00a0<\/p>\n Never concerned\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n Even when she developed a tear, initially small, in her late 30s, she was not unduly concerned.<\/p>\n She admitted: ‘I thought it was from sex.’\u00a0<\/p>\n It took Mrs Baumhauer (pictured) nearly 10 years before she was told the news last March, after a smear test even came back clear<\/p>\n Doctors even suggested it could be herpes, but it was ruled out when they found out she had been with Matthew for 26 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n In March 2016, more than 35 years after she initially developed symptoms, she was referred to hospital by a different GP.\u00a0<\/p>\n At Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, south London, doctors carried out a biopsy under local anaesthetic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her vulval cancer diagnosis\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Just 10 days after the procedure, she found out she had vulval cancer. It was marked as stage 1B, grade 3 – meaning it was small, but growing quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n In April, at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London, she had an operation called hemi-vulvectomy to remove the tumour.<\/p>\n Despite surgeons cutting it all out, scans of her groin revealed that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, so she had 25 sessions of radiotherapy.<\/p>\n Then her lymph nodes started swelling, and she developed an infection and her groin had to be filled with padding.<\/p>\n The radiotherapy, which triggered an early menopause, finished in March, but left her legs burnt. The rest of her body was unaffected<\/p>\n Vulval cancer is one of the rarest forms of the disease, with around 1,000 cases diagnosed in the UK each year.<\/p>\n The vulva includes the lips surrounding the vagina (labia minora and labia majora), the clitoris and the Bartholin’s glands (two small glands each side of the vagina).\u00a0<\/p>\n Eighty per cent of those are in women aged over 60, while the pre-cancerous form of the condition – vulval intraepithelial neoplasia – tends to be diagnosed in those aged 30 to 50.<\/p>\n Symptoms of vulval cancer include:<\/p>\n While all these symptoms can also be a sign of other, more common conditions, it is vital to see your GP if any persist.<\/p>\n The HPV vaccine is among the greatest protection available to the disease, as many forms of vulval cancer are triggered by the virus.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rushed to hospital<\/span><\/p>\n Mrs Baumhauer was at Butlins in Bognor, West Sussex, in December when it got really bad and she had to be rushed to hospital.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n She spent New Year’s Eve 2016 in St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, West Sussex, where she was diagnosed with the skin infection cellulitis.<\/p>\n But when she returned to Kent, she was sent back to St Thomas’ Hospital for her lymph nodes to be drained.<\/p>\n Mrs Baumhauer was given antibiotics – but scans showed there was still cancer and she needed more radiotherapy sessions.<\/p>\n The radiotherapy, which triggered an early menopause, finished in March, but left her legs burnt. The rest of her body was unaffected.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is lichen sclerosis?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now Mrs Baumhauer\u00a0realises she never had thrush, but instead had always suffered from lichen sclerosis.<\/p>\n According to the NHS, the skin condition is more likely to affect the genitals and thought to be linked to the immune system.<\/p>\n Left untreated, lichen sclerosis \u2013 which cannot be cured but can be controlled with steroids \u2013 increases the chance of vulval cancer.<\/p>\n Mrs Baumhauer wants people to learn about the skin condition so they can be diagnosed and treated early on.<\/p>\n She is desperate for people to avoid the ordeal she has been through, having suffered with problems in her vaginal area for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n \n The Eve Appeal is highlighting during Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month in September that men as well as women can play a major role in raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of gynaecological cancer.<\/p>\n Get involved, find out more about the symptoms of gynaecological cancers through #Knowyourbody and visit eveappeal.org.uk<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n Now Mrs Baumhauer realises she never had thrush, but instead had always suffered from lichen sclerosis – which raised her risk of vulval cancer<\/p>\n She is desperate for people to avoid the ordeal she has been through, having suffered with problems in her vaginal area for decades<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A mother-of-two developed vulval cancer from her extreme skin condition – but her symptoms were dismissed for decades.\u00a0 Clare Baumhauer, 44, from Erith, Kent, had itchy genitals since she was a teenager – but was told it was just thrush, herpes or cystitis.\u00a0 After being too embarrassed to visit her doctor for years, she eventually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\nWHAT IS VULVAL CANCER?<\/h3>\n
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