Women with cancer are often dismissed, downplayed, unheard and misdiagnosed by GPs and gender bias has seen many women’s concerns attributed to emotional or psychological issues.

Claire was diagnosed with cancer in her uterus – leiomyosarcoma- in 2023, two years after first raising her symptoms and concerns with her GP

Initially being diagnosed with IBS, she faced delays and misdiagnosis at every turn. It was only when a masseuse in Turkey asked her if she was pregnant that Claire feared it might be something more serious.

Leiomyosarcoma is an aggressive cancer and if caught at an early stage, the survival is 65%if caught at a later stage then only 14% of people survive up to five years. Sarcoma can occur anywhere in the body, but in Claire’s case it developed in her uterus. Around 1,200 people a year are diagnosed with gynaecological cancers in Wales.

Only after seeing a female GP, Claire was referred for cancer testing where she was later diagnosed with stage four cancer which had spread to her lungs, liver and hip bone. Sadly, Claire’s cancer is now incurable.

Claire, and many other women who have raised concerns about their symptoms, have felt dismissed and fobbed off as evident in the recent Senedd inquiry into Gynaecological cancers, entitled ‘Unheard’.

Claire’s campaign is focused on ensuring policy change through people’s voices and stories and campaigning to change the culture of dismissing women’s voices in healthcare settings.