Doctors failed to spot Danniella’s illness, believing she was pregnant, after finding a clot the size of a tangerine in her womb.
The EastEnders actress – who now lives in Spain – later collapsed in agony while back the UK and best mate Kerry Katona rushed her to the hospital.
It was there she received the devastating news.
Danniella Westbrook, 44 – a former drug addict – was so upset by her diagnosis she turned to cocaine to cope.
“I’ve always said I am not scared of dying,” she told the Sunday Mirror.
“But when the doctor said, ‘You have cancer’, straight away my thoughts turned to Jade and that I don’t want to die. I know I need to fight.”
The mother-of-two will have a hysterectomy in three weeks and she’s waiting to see if the cancer has spread.
Danniella – whose mother fought the same illness when she was 15 – is afraid the disease will claim her life, like Big Brother star and good friend Jade Goody, who passed away from cervical cancer in 2009.
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TRAGIC: Danniella has been diagnosed with cancer (Pic: WENN)
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SUPPORT: Kerry rushed Danniella to hospital after she collapsed (Pic: WENN)
“I want to live and sort out my health. I know I have to fight, I know I have to get up and battle it”
Danniella Westbrook
She added: “After what happened with Jade I was frightened to talk to anyone about my cancer at first. She was my friend and what happened was so awful.
“There is part of me that thinks I would rather just be ill and not know about it – to just get on with life.
“But then I thought about the kids and I thought that is a selfish way to be. I’ve tried to commit suicide before but getting this diagnosis has made me realise I don’t want to die.
“I want to live and sort out my health. I know I have to fight, I know I have to get up and battle it.”
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HEARTBREAKING: Jade passed away from cervical cancer in 2009 (Pic: GETTY)
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FIGHTER: Danniella will have a hysterectomy in three weeks (Pic: WENN)
Danniella is now speaking out is to encourage more women to have smear tests, having not had one for years.
She continued: “The doctors say they believe it is containable so I’m hopeful.
“My mum had the same cancer when I was 15. I’m 44 now and she is still here.
“Her treatment was on the NHS and it worked. They are taking me in in three weeks for a full hysterectomy. Before they take it out they won’t know to what extent the cancer has grown.”