Cervical cancer diagnosis: "It was a shock"

Waiting for the diagnosis is bad, but the certainty can be even worse. Romy Nagora-Müller from Dresden experienced this moment in October 2025. Back then, she received confirmation from her gynecologist of a disease that had already been indicated by the findings: cervical cancer. "It was a shock," says the 44-year-old mother and wife, recalling the moment that changed her life. Although she had known about an infection with HPV viruses a few years earlier, she had felt safe with regular check-ups.

Transmission mainly during sexual intercourse

HPV stands for human papillomaviruses - widespread and highly contagious pathogens. They are almost always transmitted during sexual contact. However, while most infections heal without symptoms, so-called high-risk types can cause various types of cancer - above all cervical cancer. Vaccination during adolescence, before the first sexual intercourse, offers the best protection. Girls are not the only ones who can be vaccinated. HPV viruses are also dangerous for boys. For Romy Nagora-Müller, prevention is the motivation to go public with her case.

But until then, she had to go through a rollercoaster of emotions. Three years earlier, she had cared for her mother, who was suffering from cancer and lost her life to the insidious disease at the age of 59. "One was a different cancer story, but it's very much in your head what it means to have cancer, what treatments there are and how you suffer as a patient." Nevertheless, she initially approached the challenge relatively calmly. Women in her environment had also had to deal with the virus, precancerous stages, a scraping or removal of the uterus.

She had immediately suggested removing the uterus because she no longer wanted to have children after her daughter, who is now 16 years old. "But then it was made clear to me during an examination that I shouldn't be so relaxed about it. I was quickly brought down to earth and was very scared," says the woman, who works as the owner of a beauty salon in Dresden. When she left the doctor's surgery, she was hot and cold. She only felt some relief when it was clear that no metastases had yet formed.

Support from the family is healing

Family support is another problem for cancer patients. Nagora-Müller was able to rely on family support right from the start. "In hospital, I got to know a few stories of people who were alone and didn't have the support I did." Of course, she also read up on the internet and shared all the information with her husband, she says. "My husband is a very positive, optimistic person. He always tries to pull me out of lows when I'm sad."

Romy Nagora-Müller told her daughter a short time later. "I couldn't help myself. I came back from the dysplasia consultation and was devastated. I talked to her about it." Her child never doubted from the start that she could do it. Her daughter wanted to know whether it was like her grandmother, whose illness she had experienced at the time. After that, however, she was relaxed about it all. "I see that as a compliment today. She had faith in me because she knew that I was strong and would somehow manage."

Hope for the saving news

At Dresden University Hospital, she was happy to get all her appointments straight away. This saved her waiting times full of uncertainty. "If I'd had to wait another three months for an MRI, that would have been really bad for me. You remain in a kind of waiting position and seem to be rolling towards an abyss. The question is, has the tumor already spread? You try to do everything right and hope that the days will pass quickly and the saving news will come that there are no metastases and everything is fine."

Pauline Wimberger, Director of the University Women's Hospital Dresden and member of the renowned Leopoldina, is considered one of Germany's leading experts on cervical cancer. The professor also conducts research in this field. With the HPV vaccination and regular check-ups at the gynecologist, the number of new cases in Germany has fallen steadily - to around 4,000 to 4,200 per year, reports the doctor. The vaccination can prevent 90 percent of cervical carcinomas - as cervical cancer is also known. "If all young girls and boys were vaccinated, the disease could be virtually eradicated."

Vaccination can prevent 90 percent of cervical cancers

According to Wimberger, HPV viruses not only cause cervical cancer, but also certain vulvar cancers and, in boys, diseases such as penile cancer or anal carcinoma. The vaccine currently protects against nine different high-risk HPV types. The vaccination rate in Saxony is comparatively high at around 70 percent. Nevertheless, it is always important to encourage young people to get vaccinated.

Wimberger also explains the symptoms of cervical cancer to students in her lectures. "If there is so-called contact bleeding, you should be alert. This refers to bleeding during sexual intercourse or when vaginal bleeding occurs independently of the period." If cervical carcinoma, as cervical cancer is also known, is detected early in the first stage, the prognosis is very good. The five-year survival rate is then more than 90 percent. Most carcinomas of this type are now diagnosed at the first stage.

Difficult operation due to the position of the organ

The professor points to the particular position of the uterus - in close proximity to the bladder and bowel - as the difficulty of cervical cancer. "If the lateral and posterior ligaments are affected, the disease is already more advanced and the carcinoma can also grow into the neighboring organs, such as the bladder and bowel. That's why we palpate these suspensory ligaments in all patients under anesthesia and also perform a bladder and rectal endoscopy."

In the end, everything went quickly for Nagora-Müller. She had her operation on November 24. She had to have a relatively small tumor removed. Nevertheless, an operation lasting several hours was necessary, during which the entire uterus, the suspensory ligaments and lymph nodes in the small pelvis were also removed. She was in hospital for a week. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are no longer necessary. Now she wants to encourage other women to go to the gynecologist regularly and watch out for signs in their bodies. She had already had her daughter vaccinated against HPV viruses beforehand.

Hope for a little more ease

The cancer has made her even more aware of her body, says Nagora-Müller - even though she had already treated it with care in the past. Now she very much wants to regain her former light-heartedness. The thought of a possible early death has made her a little confused. "That's why I'm now trying even harder to be grateful for my life and do even more for my health. Maybe I'll manage to regain a little more lightness."