In early 2024, Melissa Sanders experienced an almost three-month long period. At 44 years old, she thought perimenopause, when the body starts to transition to menopause, was causing her heavy menstrual bleeding.

“Everybody was telling me I’m going through perimenopause,” the now-46-year-old from Valley City, Ohio, tells TODAY.com. “I didn’t make a big deal about it. I just put up with it for another two months. But then I started getting contractions.”

She visited her doctor and eventually learned that she had Stage 3 cervical cancer.

“I was sad,” Sanders says. “But I didn’t give up.”

Non-Stop Bleeding With Pain

When the constant bleeding began, Sanders listened to others who said perimenopause was likely the cause of her irregular periods.

“My mom was like, ‘Melissa, all of us go t

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