I have been a proud and active member of The Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation for nearly four years. My relationship with the foundation has grown from an opportunity for me to add volunteering to my relatively thin resume as a first year university student to what I now consider a strong passion of mine. I don’t know whether it is irony, then, or incredible luck that I stumbled over ACCFs ad on my universities career portal because this morning, thanks to my education through ACCF, I was able to detect a precancerous cell on my cervix.
Irony and luck aside, I am extremely thankful that I was made aware and educated of the risks of cervical cancer and the importance of having regular pap smears. Fifty per cent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer have not had regular pap smears; I made a promise to myself four years ago to never be one of those women and luckily, because of my regular visits to my local GP, I am not.
Often when it comes to cancer, we hear stories of survival or sadly, serious illness and death. It is not often we hear of stories of prevention; for cervical cancer, this should be the only story we hear.
I am twenty one years old, I am fit and healthy, I do not smoke, I have had few sexual partners and I engage in safe sex practices. This morning when called into my doctor to discuss an abnormal pap result, I was notified I have what is commonly known as CIN 2, a potentially premalignant transformation and abnormal growth of squamous cells on the surface of the cervix (thanks, Wikipedia). Engaging in none of the typical risk factors, it would be completely normal for me to think of myself as ‘safe’ against cervical cancer. But the thing is, nobody is safe against it – there is no sure way of knowing that you do not have cervical cancer other than visiting your doctor regularly for a pap smear.
And there it is, I said it. Pap. Smear. Two words so frightening to so many young females that the topic is often skipped over or worse, blatantly denied. My pap smear took no more than five minutes; it was non-invasive and right now, it was the key to identifying the abnormality on my cervix and quite possibly preventing me from developing cervical cancer.
At the moment I know nothing about my case other than that it has been identified as a grade two cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Without my pap smear, I would not even know that. While most of these cases can be eliminated by the body’s own immune system, a small percentage can turn into cervical cancer. Those five minutes of my time I spent in my doctor’s office two weeks ago, have ensured the detection of these abnormal cells and protected me from them developing any further.
So, this is my story. It is not brave, nor gallant and thank god, not filled with sadness or loss. It is also a reminder ladies, for the sake of five minutes where you might feel uncomfortable or awkward, it will save you the regret if you too, became one of the fifty per cent of females diagnosed with cervical cancer without a pap smear.
Please visit www.accf.org.au for my information about cervical cancer; it is the only cancer with a vaccination and methods to make it entirely preventable. Please visit their website and find out how you can help not only yourself but thousands of other women each year.
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