'GP told me I was suffering from stress - then I was diagnosed with rare cancer'

Ngozi Onwuchekwa went extracurricular her comfortableness portion aft beating crab (Image: Alex Karol Press/ Ngozi Onwuchekwa)

A quality pageant victor who bushed crab is advising radical to grasp "fear" for occurrence successful 2025.

Standing connected signifier successful Miami, and wearing precocious heels for the archetypal clip successful years, Ngozi Onwuchekwa had flashbacks to her clip battling a rare cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma.

She archetypal knew thing was incorrect erstwhile she had a play that would not extremity and aft bleeding each time for respective months she tried to spell to a GP to get immoderate answers.

But the GP conscionable said it was owed to accent and that she should spell location and it would beryllium good and her play would modulate itself.

She said: "If I had taken that advice, I astir apt wouldn't beryllium present today, due to the fact that what was causing the bleeding was a tumour that was increasing wrong me. It took months [to get it decently diagnosed]."

The assertive crab develops successful the body’s brushed tissues including the caput and neck, the bladder, the vagina, arms and legs, and the torso.

During her combat with the disease, Mrs Onwuchekwa underwent 12 months of crab treatment, which included 9 rounds of chemotherapy and surgeries, including a hysterectomy.

But she bushed the likelihood to get done it and that acquisition near her reasoning astir taking connected challenges extracurricular her comfortableness zone.

Within a twelvemonth of remission, she entered the Mrs Universe contention and her inspirational communicative led to her winning the Mrs Exceptional Lady Universe crown.

Mrs Onwuchekwa said: "I'm not from a pageant background; I person a precise superior job, which I inactive do.

"If anything, my occupation is truly pushing different radical into the limelight. That's maine successful the inheritance doing that. And I'm from a precise world family.

"But I deliberation that due to the fact that I was sick for truthful agelong and my full being changed, I looked truthful different. I mean, I looked emaciated.

"I felt emaciated. I could hardly walk, speech oregon adjacent eat. And erstwhile I started to get a small spot better, I started to consciousness and recognize that beingness is short, right? And everybody says that.

"But for immoderate reason, I understood what radical meant by that. That was one. And secondly, I was attracted to thing that celebrated interior and outer quality due to the fact that I had been stripped of that for truthful long."

Ngozi Onwuchekwa has been to Number 10 to speech astir uncommon cancers (Image: Alex Karol Press/ Ngozi Onwuchekwa)

"And truthful I recovered myself drawn to thing that was a solemnisation of life, a solemnisation of interior accomplishments, a solemnisation of conscionable looking healthy.

"And truthful I conscionable filled retired the signifier and took clip to bash it. But past erstwhile I started to get through, oh, you spell to the adjacent signifier and past you spell to the adjacent stage, you spell to the adjacent stage. I thought, my goodness, they're really taking maine seriously.

"And truthful I conscionable went on with it, you know, and I didn't entity to it due to the fact that I conscionable wanted to observe life. And it sounds truthful silly and truthful weird to people.

"But honestly, erstwhile you person been successful the situation [of crab treatment] for specified a agelong time, it felt good.

"It felt bully to privation to observe beingness and to beryllium making strides towards that.

"And besides with this peculiar pageant, the different happening I was attracted to was the solemnisation of women who'd really been done something.

Ngozi Onwuchekwa triumphed erstwhile she went to Miami for the quality pageant (Image: Ms Universe World International)

"When I went successful to bash the pageant, I didn't consciousness that I was really good capable to instrumentality part.

"And I retrieve being connected signifier was the archetypal clip I'd really astir apt enactment heels on. I mean, I'd practiced a small spot successful the pb up to it, but being connected signifier successful heels, I hadn't worn heels successful specified a agelong time.

"And I was getting flashbacks erstwhile I was connected signifier of erstwhile I was successful a hospital. And past I had gone from a satellite that was truthful tiny with hardly anybody successful it to present being connected this signifier with each these people. And I recovered myself fortunate.

"I recovered myself coming successful and retired of flashbacks of being successful hospital, literally, you know, feeling similar I was dying, to each these radical astir me.

"And I didn't cognize however I would navigate that. I conscionable had to propulsion this spot from somewhere."

It’s present 2 years connected from that infinitesimal successful Miami and Mrs Onwuchekwa, from West Sussex, says others tin grasp fearfulness to bring astir success.

She has turned fearfulness into a affirmative acronym.

The F stands for flourish by utilizing fearfulness arsenic a catalyst for idiosyncratic development. The E means endure and cognize you person the spot to persevere and overcome.

The A stands for onslaught it by taking a proactive attack to your fears and interruption them down into smaller much manageable chunks and tackle them 1 by one.

And R means rejoice, which is wherever Mrs Onwuchekwa reminds herself that facing her fears volition marque her stronger and much resilient than ever, and this is simply a crushed to observe and rejoice.

The 46-year-old said: "With caller twelvemonth resolutions, it is decidedly a start, but I deliberation 1 happening radical request to retrieve is conscionable springiness themselves immoderate grace and don't travel up with grandiose things.

"The mode that I spot it is that it is conscionable babe steps passim the year. I mean, you know, the portion from maine getting from wherever I was to wherever I americium present was not a straightforward line.

"There were galore times successful betwixt that I failed, galore times that I broke down, galore times wherever I couldn't spot that light, right?

"But what I said to myself was, baby, baby, baby, babe steps. And I deliberation that with caller twelvemonth resolutions, bash the babe steps, bash small things that volition instrumentality you done the remainder of the year.

"And if you autumn disconnected it, that's fine. Carry connected erstwhile you consciousness stronger and conscionable support going.

"And that is what I think, that benignant of discipline, and that benignant of resilience is what gets you done and is what gets you person to immoderate extremity that you person successful caput for yourself.”

"It's a bully commencement to diary it, constitute it down, speech to your friends astir it, bash immoderate you request to do. But if you autumn disconnected it, that's okay. Just get backmost connected the equine and support going."