A woman who thought her blocked nose was a cold symptom ended up receiving a far more serious diagnosis.

In January of this year, Banbury woman Charlotte Rooney thought she had a winter cold as her nose was blocked, though she wasn’t experiencing any other symptoms.

After two or three weeks, the blocked feeling wasn’t going away by itself so she went to see a doctor, who gave her a nasal cream, and then shortly afterwards when she sought treatment again she was told the feeling was ‘nothing serious’.

Charlotte’s first sign was a blocked nose, which she initially thought was a symptom of a seasonal cold. (Just Giving)

This still didn’t explain the blocked nose, and in April, she went and got a private appointment where she was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer.

Charlotte was told that she ‘may only have months left to live’, and that her chance of being cured was ‘in the single percentages area’.

A further appointment told her that surgery might be an option, with the plan to surgically remove the tumour and then use proton beam therapy on the remaining cells.

However, her surgery had to be stopped due to excessive blood loss and surgeons made the decision not to proceed further, meaning Charlotte would have to undergo radiotherapy.

During this time, she set up a fundraiser to raise money for Oracle Cancer Trust, and to put on a festival to get more money for them, last month she successfully hit her goal of £10,000.

According to the Daily Mail, Charlotte described the day of the festival as ‘extremely emotional’ and even though she ‘struggled to swallow, eat and speak properly’ from the radiotherapy she was able to sing there.

A recent scan showed that much of her cancer was gone, but doctors ‘expect it to come back’ and she is still raising money to help others (Just Giving)

A couple of weeks later, she received some good news in the form of an MRI scan which couldn’t detect any cancer remaining, which the Banbury woman said was a ‘big shock’.

She told them: “They showed me a scan with a whole patch of grey, which previously had been all white with cancer, and now it is healing bone. It’s the best news I can have.

“It’s probable that there is still some cancer remaining, but it’s too small to be made out and is likely not growing.”

Charlotte’s future will involve fresh MRI scans every three months indefinitely, saying that doctors ‘do expect it to come back’ and that this type of cancer ‘regularly recurs’.

Charlotte is continuing to raise money for Oracle, as while her initial fundraiser wrapped up after having exceeded its £10,000 target, another one which has surpassed £5,000 is still open for donations here.