NTI_BRUNT_TUMOUR_10

FILE PICTURE - GV of the The Royal Stoke University Hospital. A former beauty queen was forced to undergo a full hysterectomy after bungling doctors misdiagnosed her cancer -- as the MENOPAUSE. Paula Brunt, 45, was left with a tumour the size of a football after visiting hospital over 20 TIMES in the space of eight months with severe abdominal pains in 2009. Shockingly, doctors sent her on the way after telling her symptoms were likely caused by the early onset of menopause or irritable bowel syndrome. But after her friends started to ask if she was pregnant the mum-of-three persisted with her GP and returned to Royal Stoke University Hospital in March 2010. Eventually she was correctly diagnosed and given the crushing news that she had ovarian cancer and she underwent surgery later that month. Four weeks later test results showed she still had an immature teratoma, a rare ovarian cancer which usually affects women in their teens and 20s.The discovery meant Paula had to undergo further surgery which included a full hysterectomy in May 2010. The former support teacher, who was crowned Miss Stoke-on-Trent in 1994, was left with seven big scars across her torso following the extensive surgery.