Jakarta, ThedailyID — A woman in Miami, Florida, discovered a rare form of uterine cancer after persistent bleeding prompted her to seek further medical attention.
Claudia Pereira was 37 when she started taking birth control pills to treat adult acne. However, she began experiencing continuous bleeding that lasted for months.
Her doctor initially told her that her body might need time to adjust to the new medication. Pereira grew increasingly concerned after the bleeding continued for four to five months.
“I thought, ‘Okay, is this normal?’ This is too much. I became anemic after six months,” Pereira told USA Today.
The bleeding later changed into a thick discharge, prompting Pereira to visit an emergency room. Medical examinations found a seven-centimeter mass in her uterus.
Pathology results showed that the mass was uterine leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that develops in the uterus’s smooth muscle.
Pereira’s tumor tested positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors. Her medical team said these hormones may have influenced the tumor’s growth.
Gina D’Amato, a sarcoma medical oncologist at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center who treated Pereira, said the additional hormones may have accelerated the cancer’s growth and made it easier to detect.
“In her case, she wasn’t on it for a long time. I think she was actually lucky, in a way, because maybe the birth control allowed it to grow and be found,” D’Amato said.
The report does not suggest that birth control pills caused Pereira’s cancer. Instead, her doctors believed the hormonal changes may have triggered symptoms that led to its discovery.
Doctors removed the tumor, and subsequent scans showed no evidence that the cancer had spread to other parts of her body.
Pereira later celebrated one year without cancer in July 2026. She spent time with her family and travelled to Bali to mark the milestone.
Her experience has encouraged her to raise awareness about rare cancers and the importance of paying attention to changes in the body.
“Don’t hesitate. Listen to your body. Your body will always tell you if something is wrong. I’m proof of that,” Pereira said.
She also reflected on the unexpected role her acne played in leading her to seek treatment.
“Who knows how long it was there? If I hadn’t taken the birth control, I would have never known,” she said.
