Emma Stephenson’s pap smear regret after cervical cancer shock

Emma Stephenson will never see her 11-year-old son make it to high school or watch her older daughter graduate university.

Emma Stephenson will not see her youngest son turn 12 in November, go to high school or grow into a young man.

She won’t see her 20-year-old daughter graduate from university, get married or have a baby.

“We don’t have much time left with our mum, sister, aunty and daughter,” Emma’s sister Megan Matthews told The Advertiser.

Emma, who lives in Port Augusta, has been diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer and on June 14 doctors told her she has four months to live.

“There’s no future, she literally is living day by day,” Ms Matthews said. “She’s anxious all the time and worries for her children.”

Emma Stephenson who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer with her children,- 11-year-old Anton and 20-year-old Lailani. Picture: Supplied

In just a few years Emma’s life turned upside down from being a hardworking, 41-year-old single mum of 11-year-old Anton and 20-year-old Lailani, to struggling to get out of bed.

In 2021 Emma noticed a change in her period and went to visit her GP. After a range of tests a doctor told she had stage four cervical cancer.

“She was absolutely devastated,” Ms Matthews said.

“How can she be so far into having cancer without it being picked up?”

She immediately had surgery and then began treatment but a routine PET scan in September 2023 showed the cancer had spread to numerous lymph nodes, her lungs, liver, two of her ribs and her spine.

Emma wishes she could go back in time and have regular Pap smears. Picture: Supplied

Emma with her mum Katrina waiting for a chemotherapy session. Picture: Supplied

She began and completed a rigorous form for chemotherapy with numerous hospital stays for weeks at a time.

It was then Emma began immunotherapy. However she was forced to cease that treatment as it started to attack her healthy organs.

“She is living in constant pain,” Ms Matthews said.

Emma’s treatment is now palliative.

Ms Matthews said Emma “wishes that she could go back in time and make time to have regular Pap smears and make her health a priority”.

If you’d like to donate to Emma’s family you can here.

Originally published as Emma Stephenson’s pap smear regret after cervical cancer shock