Menopause symptoms turned out to be cancer .. it was a total shock

Fit and well mum of two describes disbelief after shattering diagnosis

- BY CHIARA POLLOCK

A MUM has told of the moment her life turned upside down after what she thought were menopause symptoms turned out to be a cancer diagnosis.

Caroline Sweeney, 54, believed she was simply entering the next stage of life when she began feeling exhausted and developed painful sores in her mouth in May 2022.

But the reality left the Balloch woman “in complete shock”.

The childminder, who had spent much of her working life on her feet caring for youngsters, said: “I had been a childminder for 15 years, walking 25,000 steps a day, and never had a sick day.

“But suddenly I was exhausted, I couldn't walk uphill and had sores in my mouth.