‘I looked nine months pregnant, but it wasn’t a baby’

Sarah Haslam’s friends and family thought she was pregnant with her third child when her belly started growing in 2019.

But after eight weeks and numerous scans it was discovered that Sarah, 44, had seven uterine fibroids, also called fibrotumours, in her uterus.

Fibrotumors are usually benign growths that occur in the uterus. They can cause pain and heavy bleeding.

Due to her small size, she had an IUD inserted in March 2019 to simply reduce the bleeding it caused.

Sarah, a full-time carer, said: “I spent so much money on sanitary pads.”

“I used to wear two or three pads at a time and buy them in bulk.”

“This one time I was wearing white jeans and it looked like a murder scene.

“I felt bloated and incredibly weak. “I couldn’t leave my house; sometimes I had a puddle at my feet.”

The mother-of-three, from Radcliffe, Manchester, suffered ‘excruciating pain’ and eventually suffered a seizure at home.

She was taken to Oldham Hospital in Greater Manchester, where doctors found the tumor was degenerating and causing sepsis and pneumonia.

She remained in hospital for two weeks to prevent further spread of the infection. She spent the next nine months in and out of the hospital, literally watching the tumor in her uterus ‘grow’.

“I felt incredibly heavy, but also so weak,” Sarah said. “I never left my house because I didn’t want people to ask questions.”

“My daughters were very concerned about my health.

“I was in constant pain and looked pregnant. “I had to explain to people that I had a tumor and not a baby.”

Finally, 18 months after Sarah was first diagnosed with uterine fibroids, doctors decided to remove the tumor. Sarah had now lost a lot of weight. Despite her protruding stomach, she has dropped from size 12 to size 4.

In March 2021, she underwent a six-hour hysterectomy at Oldham Hospital but was left with a large scar that destroyed her self-esteem.

“I felt extremely weak after the operation. “I was in hospital for three days before I was sent home,” she says.

“It took me twelve months to gradually gain weight and heal. I finally felt like myself again.

“But I had a scar like Frankenstein’s.” My self-esteem has been completely destroyed.

“My friends say I’ve changed, that I’ve lost all my self-confidence. ‘It’s a huge blow to my self-esteem.’

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