"Friends thought I was pregnant but my belly was wearing a beach ball tumor"

When friends and doctors suspected Abi Cresswell of being pregnant, she was certain not to be.

But what she did not know was that her swollen belly was carrying a 2.2-kg tumor in the shape of a beach ball.

The 21-year-old had experienced six months of extreme and unpredictable pain, sometimes unable to get up from bed, unable to sleep at night and missing some of her dance clbades at the university.

Abi said the doctors initially could not figure out what was wrong with her – repeatedly sending her for pregnancy tests because her stomach was "huge".

But after the pain worsened to the point where she could barely walk, Abi was rushed to A & E and the doctors saw a mbad in her through scans.

Abi, of Norwich, has been diagnosed with shock from ovarian cancer to germ cells, a rare type of the disease.

She had to extract her tumor surgically, which had reached 2.2 kg.

"My stomach probably looked like it was pregnant, it looked like a balloon shape," said Abi, addressing Mirror.co.uk.

"Even my friends thought I was pregnant at one point."

She said she had suffered about six months of pain before the diagnosis, recalling: "During all these months, GPs would say," Try this, try it, "or they did not think it was something, or they would give me pregnancy tests, or ibuprofen to relieve pain.

"You know your own body and I knew it was not a normal stomach pain, I knew that there was something else out there.

"The pregnancy tests took place because my stomach was so big.

"They saw my stomach and thought I was pregnant – at least two doctors think that.

"I knew I was not pregnant.

"I would say (to the doctors) that I'm pretty confident I'm not (pregnant)."

Abi said that she would ask, "Is there anything else?"

But she says the doctors would say "let's see how the pregnancy tests go".

The discomfort began in mid-December 2017, when Abi was 19, and she first described feelings of "regular abdominal pain."

At the time, she was studying dance in Bedfordshire, at the university, but because of the pain in the stomach, she had to miss clbades.

"Sometimes the pain was so intense that I could not do anything," she said.

"Sometimes I felt a sharp stomach pain and it was very difficult to predict.

"Sometimes it lasted a few days, but then it turned on again."

Abi says that she went to the doctor who sent her to the hospital where she had an ultrasound in February 2018.

She claims to have received a letter following the scan indicating that she was suffering from a benign cyst in the lower right of the area of ​​her abdomen that was surgically removed and that she had been reserved. for evaluation in May.

"I had never undergone surgery before, so I did not know how it was going to unfold, but then I was happy that it was benign," said Abi.

"The pain was so strong that I just wanted it to be over, I did not want to feel pain anymore."

Speaking of his agony before the operation, Abi said: "Between December and July – most of the time, I was suffering.It would be difficult to sleep, I would wake up most of the night.

"It affected my life everyday.

"The pressure was rising on my bladder and I was going to the toilet all the time.

"When I went out, I should know where the nearest toilet was.

"My partner David (Johnson) could see that I was in constant pain and he hated to see him.

"I was frustrated and just wanted the operation because I just wanted everything to be over."

Abi says that before she had surgery, she was so painful one day that she could barely walk and her mother, Sarah, took her to the emergency room.

At A & E, he was given morphine, remembering "they saw that my stomach was big enough".

"They looked at the (previous) test results and could see a mbad that made it big," she said.

Abi says that she was told that she should be operated as soon as possible.

The next day she consulted a consultant and her surgery was booked five days later.

Abi said, "The consultant said they did not know exactly what they were dealing with before looking into my stomach.

"We were on the edge because we did not know how it would happen.

"But I'm a positive thinker and I just hoped it would not be a bad thing."

She continued: "After the operation, a surgeon stated that they had removed a mbad of 2.2 kg from my stomach.

"I remember seeing a picture and it was like a beach ball.

"I was glad it came out and hoped I would not suffer as much."

Abi said that samples of his tumor should be sent for testing.

A week later, in July, the hospital phoned her mother to tell her that her daughter had ovarian germ cell cancer.

"Mom was crying right now," said Abi.

She said that her first thought was to call her partner David, knowing that he would be worried about being sick.

Abi admitted that she thought it was cancer, but added that she was still trying to be a positive person.

"It was shocking, you do not know how it affects you until it's you," she says.

"But the doctors told me that everything would be fine.

"They had told my mother that it was 90% curable.

"It could have been a worst case scenario."

In less than a week, Abi said that she was consulting a consultant about the start of treatment.

And in August of last year, she started chemotherapy.

She would then have four cycles of five days each, separated by two weeks.

During treatment, she says she has been nauseated, tired, and in bed most of the time.

She lost her appetite, lost weight and lost her hair.

"It would be done in groups and at the end, someone would have to cut it," she says.

"When I was told that I would lose my hair, that's why I cried.

"I did not cry when I was told that I had cancer, but I cried when I lost my hair.

"I was scared before but when it happened, it was OK."

During treatment, Abi 's mother would stay with her in the hospital and then help her at home.

"She would help me take a shower because I was weak and she would help me get dressed," Abi said.

"She did most things for me."

Sarah left her job from August to November to take care of her own daughter. They had to use food banks but Abi said it helped them.

The last session of Abi chemotherapy was held on October 15 and by the end of this month, October 22, as a result of scans, she had obtained the "all cleared".

"I was happy, but more relieved," she said.

"My message to others is that you do not doubt your body.

"Go with your gut even if the doctors tell you something."

For more information on the work of CLIC Sargent and to register as an activist to help more families like Abi's, click here.