Trusted Team Provides Life-Saving Cervical Cancer Treatment
| Kendra Matthews lives in Maumelle with her husband, Shay, a disabled Marine and retired firefighter. Her experience as a wife, mother of four, and retired school counselor has made Matthews a natural advocate for herself and others.
In the summer of 2024, she began to experience strange symptoms including heartburn, constipation, exhaustion, and dizziness. Having just turned 50, she was convinced it was just age and waited to see if the symptoms would abate. But by January of 2025, she knew something was wrong.
She went to a cardiologist first and had a full workup, and every result was normal. Her primary care provider did blood work that came back normal and tried medication for each symptom, and none of it worked. Matthews then went to her gastroenterologist. With a history of precancerous colon growths, she gets routine colonoscopies every five years. Though it was a year before she was due for another, she had her colonoscopy early, and the results were clear. She was then sent to a neurologist to test for autoimmune disorders, and once again, she was said to be in perfect health.
By July 2025, she was beginning to experience abdominal pain on one side. With her colonoscopy clear, Matthews made an appointment with her OB/GYN for her annual exam. Following an abnormal pap result, her provider scheduled a colposcopy and then a Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure.
Matthews recalled feeling certain that it was cervical cancer, even asking her provider for a referral before her results were back.
She said, “As soon as my results come back, I already know I want to be at UAMS. That’s where I want to have my treatment. I need to be at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.”
In September 2025, Matthews received a call confirming she had cervical cancer.
With a referral already sent to UAMS, Matthews asked to see the paperwork so she could research her diagnosis herself.
Matthews first met with Heather Williams, M.D., a gynecologic oncologist with the UAMS Health Women’s Cancer Clinic, where she underwent several scans. Williams coordinated with Santanu Samanta, M.D., a radiation oncologist with the UAMS Radiation Oncology Center to establish a treatment plan for Matthews.
“The best part of working for this institution is the multidisciplinary approach,” said Samanta. “Any decision for a cancer patient is not decided by just one physician or specialty. For Kendra, her treatment plan was a team decision.”
Having thoroughly researched cervical cancer on the UAMS website, Matthews already anticipated needing external radiation therapy and brachytherapy. Before her first meeting with Samanta, she prepared a list of questions.
“He explained everything to me so thoroughly that by the time he was done, I only had one question on my list unanswered before I’d even had the chance to ask them,” she said.
Samanta is thorough in his communication with patients about their personalized treatment plans. He tries to understand where patients may be coming from and takes time to educate on radiation therapy. He goes through a timeline for treatment, reviewing how various treatment methods will work together as well as potential side effects and how the patients should prepare.
“Most of these treatments last a few weeks to months,” said Samanta. “We are building relationships with our patients, and the better they are prepared, the better the results are going to be.”
Matthews started treatment the first week of November and finished Dec. 17, 2025. She received a combination of either radiation, chemotherapy, or brachytherapy Monday through Friday for the duration of her treatment period.
“But I could only do that because I trusted the team,” she said. “I was able to go through the treatment and really give it my all because I knew that Dr. Samanta was giving his all.”
Following treatment, her scans were clear, and she is considered to be in remission.
“On my last appointment, I brought him pictures of my kids and my husband, so he could see who I did this for. This is who you helped me to be here for,” Matthews said. “I know God put Dr. Samanta in my path to help me heal, so that I could continue to be here for my family.”