Doctors mistook Halle’s symptoms for pregnancy (Picture: Supplied)
After experiencing debilitating symptoms for weeks, Halle Pollard, then 15, was confused when a pregnancy test came back positive.
Despite protesting that her fatigue, back ache and weight loss couldn’t possibly be due to pregnancy, she says doctors didn’t believe her.
It was only after an ultrasound that the truth came to light: Halle actually had stage four ovarian cancer.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Halle said: ‘I knew I wasn’t pregnant. I was only 15, and I knew it was impossible.’
Halle, now 19, first started presenting with agonising back pain in January 2019. She says she visited the GP four times – but was told she had sciatica or a UTI.
‘I lost a lot of weight, was constantly tired, couldn’t go to the toilet, and had constant headaches and fatigue,’ Halle explains.
Just a teenager, Halle struggled with losing her hair (Picture: Supplied)
‘I also couldn’t drink much. All of this was abnormal.
‘My back pain was so horrendous I couldn’t sit, lie down, or walk.’
Eventually, Halle’s mum took her to A&E.
‘She knew the doctors were wrong,’ says Halle.
After several hours at hospital, doctors performed routine blood and urine tests. Shockingly, the results came back positive for pregnancy.
‘The tests showed I was heavily pregnant,’ Halle said. And while she explained this couldn’t be the case, Halle says no one believed her.
‘They thought I was lying or in denial,’ she says.
‘I was scared about what my mum and dad would think – that they would believe the doctors.
‘Thankfully, my mum believed me the whole time.’
Next, Halle was taken for a scan. She says: ‘When they took me for an ultrasound, Mum told them, “There’s no baby in there.”
She underwent treatment for nine months (Picture: Supplied)
‘The nurse’s face completely changed when she did the ultrasound, but she couldn’t tell us anything.’
After the ultrasound, the doctor confirmed that Halle wasn’t actually pregnant – but the truth was much more sinister. Halle actually had ovarian cancer, and further tests revealed it had spread to her lungs, which were riddled with tumours.
Symptoms of ovarian cancer will be persistent, new and frequent – it’s important to know the signs that could save your life
Common ovarian cancer symptoms include:
Constant bloating – it’s persistent, and doesn’t come and go
A loss of appetite, or feeling full quicker than usual
Pain below your stomach in your pelvic or abdominal region
Needing to wee more often, or more urgently than usual
Other symptoms could include:
Change in bowel habits, like constipation or diarrhoea
Feeling very tired and fatigued
Unexplained weight loss
Post-menopausal bleeding
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, speak to your GP or healthcare professional urgently – or seek advice from Target Ovarian Cancer.
Ovarian cancer is extremely rare in teenagers. According to Testing.com, pregnancy tests detect Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG). However, some cancers can also produce HCG – leading to false positives.
‘The doctor came in and told me that they’d found a mass on my ovary,’ Halle said.
She had supportive family and friends to help her through her cancer journey (Picture: Supplied)
‘It was my mum who asked if it was cancerous.
‘It was stage four and had spread to my lungs. I had 42 tumours in my lungs and a 13cm by 20cm tumour on my ovary.
‘I was in complete shock. It never really sunk in that I had cancer. It still hasn’t to this day.’
Halle underwent an operation to remove her left ovary and had four rounds of chemotherapy. She credits her supportive family and friends for getting her through her treatment.
‘The hardest obstacle I’ve ever had to overcome was losing that last little bit of my childhood,’ she said.
‘I was only fifteen.
‘The last thing I wanted was for my appearance to change. Losing my hair was really hard, as was not being able to do the things my friends were doing, because the chemotherapy had completely destroyed my immune system.
‘Luckily, I have a loving family that supported me the whole way. Without them, I’d be lost.
Halle has been in remission for four years (Picture: Supplied)
‘My best friend even shaved her hair before me so I’d have the courage to shave mine.
‘I’m most proud of my mum for getting through it. She saw everything in a lot more detail than even I did. I will forever be grateful to her.’
After nine months, Halle came to the end of her treatment.
‘All in all I was in and out of the hospital from January 2019 to September 2019,’ she says. ‘I rang the end of treatment bell on my birthday!’
Now, Halle is still determined to advocate for young women who find themselves in a situation similar to hers.
She wants to tell others to ‘listen to your gut’ (Picture: Supplied)
‘Always listen to your gut,’ she says.
‘If you feel something is wrong, don’t stop until you get the answers you deserve.
‘I wish people would know that it can happen to anyone. You never think it’s going to be you.’
Halle has now been in remission for four years.
‘I’ve never been happier,’ she said.
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‘I knew it was impossible.’