TBT: Getting Diagnosed with Cervical Cancer

In honor of it being Cervical Cancer Awareness Month today’s TBT post is one we ran as part of a series back in 2014. January is Cervical Cancer Month. According to the CDC, in 2010 11,818 women in the United States were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,939 women died from the disease. And while these statistics are disheartening, once the leading cause of death in women, cervical cancer has rapidly declined over the past 40 years.  The decline in cases can be attributed to preventative medicine: more women are getting regular Pap tests, which can find cervical precancer before it turns into cancer. Throughout the month, we will high light stories from patients, survivors, and advocates. Today, Tamika Felder shares her story… I started my cervical cancer journey April 12, 2001. I went in for a routine Pap—after not having had one for a few years for some pretty typical reasons: lack of insurance and body image issues. I got the shock of my life: a diagnosis of cervical cancer. This was devastating, to say the least. Cervical cancer came in and changed everything. Here I was, 25 years old, working in Washington, DC, as a successful television producer and having the time of my life. In an instant, without warning, that all changed. Instead of thinking about my next interview, I was thinking about the end of my life, with my hopes, wishes and dreams not yet fulfilled. At this early stage in my life, I could only think, “This is it?” I fell into a deep depres...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Cancer TBT Women's Health Source Type: blogs