A 25-year-old women has died of cervical cancer after she was refused a smear test

A young girl in the UK has died at the age of 25 from cervical cancer.

When Amber Cliff was 21 she went to the doctor numerous times to request a smear test. Even after 20 visits, complaining of sickness and severe bleeding, Amber was repeatedly refused a smear test because she was not 25, which is the recommended age for the test. Most of the time the doctors told her that her symptoms were due to the pill, her hormones or a water infection. Three years later, Amber and her family decided to seek help in a private clinic to get a test done where they discovered that she had been suffering from cervical cancer for a few years. She sadly passed away from the illness at 25 years of age on January 8th, 2017. Her brother Josh has since set up a petition in a bid to get the NHS to reduce the age that women can get smear tests. According to Metro, he said:

"If Amber had a smear test sooner then the cancer might have been caught in time, and we wouldn’t have lost her like this. She asked for smear tests multiple times, but was told that she couldn’t have one because she was too young. We decided to get her one privately to put her mind at ease – but when we got the results it did the opposite. They told her that she had cervical cancer – but by this point she had already had it for two to four years without knowing."

The petition is asking for a new law which will give women under the age of 25, who present with symptoms of cervical cancer, the option to have a smear test.