A mother-of-two says having her youngest daughter may have saved her life by revealing she had cervical cancer.
Carla Woods, 29, had no idea she was ill because she didn't have any other symptoms.
And it wasn't until she was in labour with Freya, now 14 months old, that doctors noticed a tumour in her vagina – and it had already grown to the size of a satsuma.
Mrs Woods has since had chemotherapy and two types of radiotherapy before being given the all-clear in January this year.
She has hailed Freya the family's 'little miracle baby' because, if she hadn't had her when she did, the cancer could have spread and become more dangerous.
Carla Woods, 29, says her 14-month-old daughter, Freya, is a 'miracle baby' because her birth led doctors to realise Mrs Woods had a cancerous tumour inside her vagina
'It was such a shock for me and my husband, Andrew, when I was finally diagnosed in June 2018,' said Mrs Woods, a healthcare adviser from Caerphilly in Wales.
'We had no idea it would be something as serious as cancer.
'I never missed a smear test. I had one six months after my eldest daughter, Paige, was born but I was due my next one when I was pregnant with Freya which stopped me from having it done.'
Mrs Woods said her midwife at first thought the lump was a fibroid – a non-cancerous lump in the womb – and she told her to book a doctor's appointment.
But, after further tests, the family were told the lump on her vaginal wall was cancer and needed immediate treatment.
It had already spread to lymph nodes in her groin and was at risk of spreading further.
'The tumour was already the size of a satsuma and I needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy to get rid of it,' Mrs Woods said.
Mrs Woods is now in remission after having chemotherapy and two types of radiotherapy – she said her daughter's birth allowed the cancer to be spotted early while it could be treated
Mrs Woods said the diagnosis was a shock for herself and her husband, Andrew, 31 (Pictured: the couple together with their daughters Paige, four, and Freya)
'I also had a three week course of internal radiotherapy called brachytherapy.
'It wasn't how I'd expected to spend my maternity leave but I was grateful to have caught it early so there was treatment available.'
Brachytherapy is a type of radiation treatment which involves placing a piece of radioactive material inside the body beside the tumour so radiation continuously leaks out into the cancer.
Her treatment has left the mother-of-two infertile but she says she feels lucky to be clear of the disease and is warning other women to go to their smear tests.
Cervical screening is offered for free on the NHS to women in the UK aged between 25 and 64.
The brief test checks for changes to cells in the cervix which can reveal whether someone is at higher risk of developing cancer in the future.
Mrs Woods said she had to spend her maternity leave going through cancer treatment but she has now been given the all-clear
Mrs Woods didn't have any other symptoms of cancer, such as pain or bleeding, so would not have noticed she was ill if it wasn't for her daughter, Freya (pictured as
