A woman who thought a holiday from work would help her feel better after suffering breathing difficulties and putting on weight was given a heartbreaking diagnosis after returning home.
Abby Younis, who lives in Litherland with her husband, began to feel 'out of sorts' back in January 2020.
However, she thought a break from her role as a financial crime consultant and a sunny getaway would have her back to her old, energetic self.
Abby told the Liverpool ECHO : "I was working really hard and getting migraines and feeling tired.
"I just wanted to take some time off to get fit again as normally I'm a very energetic and into my fitness but I had put on some weight and couldn't breathe properly."
Taking time off, she caught up with family and friends and booked a once-in-a-lifetime holiday to Tanzania.
However, after returning from holiday she still felt unwell and in constant need of having a wee.
She said: "I was breathless all the time. I had a lot of pains in my abdomen - at times they were quite paralysing, I couldn't move.
"After dismissing it as something I'd eaten or time of the month I thought it was time to go to the doctors."
After a visit to her GP, it was suggested her problem may be bladder related and she was sent to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for tests.
Expecting hospital staff to tell her nothing was wrong, Abby was shocked to hear that scans had revealed a mass in her stomach.
They didn't know if the mass was coming from her ovaries or bowel and so Abby was sent for further tests at the Liverpool Women's Hospital and the Clatterbridge Centre.
Initial results from a CT scan revealed that she had a pulmonary embolism - a blockage in one of the arteries in her lung which explained her breathlessness.
Results from further blood test revealed more sinister news as Abby was told by doctors that they suspected the mass in her stomach was cancer.
Abby said: "It had got quite aggressive by that stage. They said my mass was too big to have a biopsy.
"The only way to know if it was cancer for sure was to undergo surgery."
Following the shock news, doctors raced her appointment for surgery through as quickly as possible as wards were beginning to close due to the pandemic.
Abby said: "Before I left my home for the hospital, I left it in a way that I wouldn't come back. Normally I'm such a positive person but because of where we were at the time.
"I thought I've possibly got cancer, I know I've got an embolism, and there's Covid out there. I thought if my lungs or my cancer doesn't get me, then Covid would. I couldn't see past that moment in time."
Three weeks after surgery to remove two masses in her stomach, Abby's consultant called her into the hospital.
She said: "The consultant said they found something that we were expecting and something that they were not expecting.
"They had found two separate cancers growing at different rates.
"The more progressed one was ovarian cancer and that had spread across my bowels. Luckily they scraped off the cancer and didn't have to remove part of my bowel.
"And separately I had endometrial cancer growing, which is cancer of the womb."
Following Abby's successful surgery to remove the tumours, she was offered chemotherapy which she declined unless they reappear again some time in the future.
However, Abby's surgery brought on what's known as a surgical menopause.
She said: "They tell you all the side effects before you have surgery and one of those is menopause - surgical menopause for people like me going through hormonal cancers.
"But you don't know what that means, because I've never heard anyone speak about it.
"It's more of a crash bang wallop rather an easing in to the menopause.
"I had a lot of sleepless nights, I was in a lot of pain because of the surgery.
"I had terrible brain fog and hot flushes which were a complete nightmare. It was like somebody throwing a bucket of boiling hot water over me."
Because Abby's cancers were hormonal related she wasn't allowed Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to help with her symptoms as it could cause another cancer.
To help other women who are experiencing the menopause but can't receive HRT, Abby is fundraising to buy Liverpool Women's Hospital equipment to provide a new laser treatment that alleviates some of the symptoms of menopause.
The treatment is currently only available privately and Abby is trying to raise as much money as she can to make the treatment available on the NHS.
So far, she has had support from celebrities like Davina McCall, who sent Abby a personal video in support of her campaign.
