TAMPA, Fla. — January is cervical cancer awareness month, and although cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, women continue to be diagnosed with the disease at alarming rates because they delay routine Pap smear screenings.
“I go to the doctor every year, but that’s just a regular medical doctor just for, like, your normal bloodwork, trying to make sure I don’t have diabetes, glucose issues, cholesterol issues,” said April Allen.
Though Allen gets a routine checkup every year, it doesn’t include a Pap smear to detect cervical cancer.
Thankfully, her job offered a full body scan, which she took advantage of it.
“So, the Life Scan is basically where they check your entire body,” Allen said.
But what she found out surprised her.
“In that screening, one of the young ladies that was doing the ultrasound found something that looked like a fibroid,” Allen said.
It turned out that fibroid would eventually lead to them diagnosing her with cervical cancer. Because it was caught early, she didn’t need chemotherapy after having surgery.
“Although you can’t really say for five years, 'I am cancer free,'" said Allen.
According to the CDC, each year, at least 13,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and women from minority populations are at higher risk. Hispanic women have the highest rates of cervical cancer, and African Americans have the highest rates of dying from it.
There are almost no signs of having cervical cancer until it’s advanced. That’s why doctors recommend getting a Pap smear every three years and making sure you’re vaccinated.
“HPV vaccination is available from ages 9 through 27, and then it is possible to be vaccinated up to age 45,” said Dr. Claudia Mason, a gynecologist with the Cleveland Clinic Florida.
Since human papillomavirus, also known as HPV, is what causes cervical cancer, doctors recommend everyone, regardless of gender, is vaccinated.
“What we know is that the rate of HPV in prevalence in the world is declining as vaccination rates have gone up,” Dr. Mason said.
