Two close friends in Doncaster urging women not to 'fear the smear'
Kelly Walker & Stacey Murray want more women in the Woodlands area of the city to go for a smear test
Two close friends in South Yorkshire are calling on women across the region not to 'delay having a smear test' for a 'second longer' - after one of them potentially saved the other's life.
Kelly Walker & Stacey Murray - who both live in Doncaster - have set up a 'pop-up shop' - to try encouraging more people to get theirs.
Kelly - who lives in the Woodlands part of the city - tells us more than 1 in 3 women are put off from having it in the area - because of how 'deprived' it is:
"Initially, it started when me & Stacey went to a 'pop-up' ourselves, and we realised there wasn't anything locally for us.
"We've found a lot of people don't want to go because they're frightened, so we want to remove the fear of the smear, and we want to help them.
"I'm prepared to hold anybody's hand while they have a smear test. Anything we can do to help."
Kelly's friend Stacey Murray found out she had cervical cancer after going for a smear test recently.
She's now waiting to find out what type of treatment she'll receive - & says she wishes she'd gone sooner:
"Don't wait, don't be thirteen years late. Just go and get it, it takes less than five minutes.
"It is embarrassing, it might be uncomfortable, but it's there to potentially safe your life, because they don't call it the silent killer for nothing."
The 'pop-up' smear test facility is set to open once a month from Brodsworth Community Hub, with help from staff at nearby retailers like B & Q.