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Monday, 27 November 2006

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Clare Nasir: I had a fibroid the size of a rugby ball

Doctors thought the presenter was pregnant

When GMTV’s Clare Nasir started getting a bloated stomach and had trouble going to the toilet, she assumed it was a result of her diet and changed what she ate.

But three months later, in January 2001, when nothing had changed, she went to the doctor.

‘At first he thought I was pregnant and, even though I knew I wasn’t, he did a pregnancy test and I had to go back later that day for the results,’ Clare explains.

I was devastated when I was told it might be cancer

As expected, the test was negative, but what he said next was even more shocking. ‘He told me that I either had fibroids or cancer and that I needed to go straight to hospital to get a scan,’ she says.

‘I didn’t even know what fibroids were, but all I focused on was the word cancer. I was utterly traumatised.’

Panicked and alarmed, the presenter dashed straight to hospital, only to discover that they couldn’t fit her in until a week later.

‘Having to spend a week wondering if I had cancer was totally gut-wrenching,’ she remembers. ‘But my mum’s a nurse and tried to reassure me, as did GMTV’s Dr Hilary Jones, who said that the chance of it being cancer at the age of 30 was unlikely. Still, it was only when it was ruled out at the hospital that I was really able to relax.’

The scan showed that Clare had six fibroids in her uterus but, while this condition affects 30 per cent of women and is often harmless, Clare’s fibroids were expanding and compressing internal organs, so they needed treatment.

Hysterectomies are often suggested for women past their reproductive years, but for Clare a myomectomy was mooted. This is a surgical procedure where an incision is made in the stomach and the fibroids are cut out. It does, however, carry with it the possibility of recurrence and complications, including haemorrhaging.

‘It was such a major operation and would have involved taking a month or more off work,’ Clare explains. ‘Along with the risks, I just didn’t want to undergo it.’

The only other viable treatment available was uterine artery embolization. This involves inserting catheters into the groin which work towards ‘silting’ up the vessels and cutting off the blood supply to the fibroids.

Because it was a relatively new procedure, Clare’s doctor advised her against it. She spent days researching the condition on the internet and decided to go on a detox diet, as hormones in the body can affect fibroids and there was some belief that nutrition could regulate the condition.

I thought eating healthily might help

‘For months I ate only organic fresh food, cut out all meat, caffeine and alcohol and had acupuncture twice a week,’ says Clare. ‘And in the summer I went to a healing ashram in Germany where I had massages, hoping that these might help.

‘But the fibroids kept growing until the biggest was the size of a rugby ball and weighed the equivalent of a five-month foetus. It was awful, as viewers began writing in, asking if I was pregnant – and people kept congratulating me.

'On top of that, my symptoms had worsened to the point that I was bleeding so much during my period that I became anaemic and needed to change my sanitary pad every hour. I was in agony with stomach cramps and felt as if the condition had taken over my life.’

In the end I had to have hospital treatment

At her wits’ end, Clare finally decided to undergo the embolization procedure in May 2002.

‘Most people can be in and out in a day, but I had to stay in hospital for four days,’ she recalls. ‘The operation was simple and I didn’t feel a thing for the next three days because I was on morphine, but as soon as they took me off it I was crying with pain. I’ve never been pregnant, but I imagine it’s similar to being in labour.’

When Clare went home she was still in pain and her stomach looked as bloated as before.

‘Some people’s fibroids disappear immediately, but every case is different and doctors can’t predict what’ll happen,’ she says. ‘Unfortunately I was unlucky, as my tummy remained bloated for five months afterwards and I was in pain for three months, sometimes to the point where I couldn’t even lift my legs.’

Thankfully, things began to improve gradually and when Clare went for her six-month MRI scan, the fibroids had shrunk by 50 per cent. ‘My stomach isn’t as flat as it used to be and I still experience heavy periods, but I’m so relieved and happy to feel normal again apart from that,’ she says.

The treatment can cause infertility

The naturally bubbly presenter has managed to remain positive despite what she’s since learnt is the devastating legacy of the procedure, which is no longer performed on women of child-bearing age.

‘The procedure cuts off the vessels that supply blood to the fibroids – and would also supply blood to a foetus – and they don’t know whether the fibroids will grow back,’ she says. ‘Me and my husband Chris were really upset when we were told, but we’re both positive people and I refuse to let it get me down.

‘There’s some hope that the vessels may grow back and the hospital has advised me to leave it for another year, but if it doesn’t work out, we’ll adopt. The way I see it is that the fibroids were ruining my life, so I had to have the procedure.’

I'm still upbeat and enjoy life

Despite the sad news, Clare remains upbeat and appreciates life more after the dreadful experience that ruled her life for more than a year. ‘In 2003, a year to the day after my op, I did the 26-mile Moonwalk in aid of breast cancer with [presenter] Kate Garraway,’ she says.

‘I had tears in my eyes when I crossed the finish line. It was a real milestone after what I’d gone through and I appreciate having the quality of life that I now enjoy.’

Rachael Woolston