Woman warns fibroid sufferers of rare, aggressive uterine cancer
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis woman is sharing her story to raise awareness about fibroids and cancer. Fibroids typically aren’t cancerous, but Teresa Springfield is nearly one in a million.
Springfield reached out to WISH-TV after watching our series on fibroids. She said that she could relate to almost everything the women featured in the series were saying. Unlike the other women, however, doctors found cancer inside her fibroids — but they caught it early enough. She now hopes that sharing her story encourages someone else to not wait until it’s too late.
Springfield says her husband saved her life.
“I had gone out of town and I had come back and my husband said, ‘I noticed you left with pads and you came back with new pads. And you’ve just went through so many. I want you to go to the doctor. I want you to go to the hospital. I’m worried about you,’” she said.
Doctors found grapefruit sized fibroids. She quickly got a hysterectomy and soon after got another diagnosis: Uterine Leiomyosarcoma, which is a rare and aggressive cancer. The National Organization for Rare Diseases (NORD) estimates six out of every one million will develop it.
“I just knew I was going to die. That c-word is so scary,” she said.
For now, doctors think the cancer remained within the fibroids, but she still had to undergo chemo just in case. She’s done with chemo, but not over the fear. For the last two years, she’s gotten frequent CT scans, but has three more years of scans left before she’s in the clear.
Reflecting, she said, “Probably should’ve gotten something done a lot sooner.”