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Patti Murillo-Casa

SaludToday Guest Blogger: Patti Murillo-Casa

It was October 2008 when I was diagnosed with Stage IIB Cervical Cancer only three months after I had retired from the NYC Police Department and was ready to enjoy retirement with my husband.

I had not visited my GYN doctor for over three years. Why did I not go to the doctor sooner? Because of the many reasons that women use as an excuse: I was too busy, I had no time, I felt fine, I hate going to the gynecologist and I had been with my husband for over 10 years.

Looking back, I see how foolish these reasons were and the tremendous consequences that followed because I chose to be careless with my health.

Once I finally saw my gynecologist because of several symptoms, he told me I had a tumor and since it was too big, I was not a good candidate for a hysterectomy. The course of action we were going to have to take ( if we had any chance of beating this) was chemotherapy, external radiation for 8 weeks and two treatments of internal radiation.

I was about to start the fight for my life. The journey was long and difficult, but I had the support of my wonderful husband, family and friends, who gave me strength and made me realize the many blessings around me which comforted me, because I was scared beyond belief.

I started treatment early January 2009. Eight weeks went by and I thought the worst of these treatments had passed. I was wrong! I started a course of internal radiation, in which the doctors inserted an implant inside my cervix with radiation rods. I had to stay in the hospital for 3 days and absolutely no visitors were allowed due to the exposure of radiation. I never felt so ALONE.

On May 5, 2009 I went in for a scan to see if all of these treatments had worked. Thankfully, my tumor was GONE and there were no cancer cells visible. The nightmare was over!!!

Due to lack of education and misconceptions of the disease on my part, I was embarrassed that I had cervical cancer due to HPV (a sexually transmitted infection). I couldn’t understand how I got this until I started educating myself about HPV and its link to cervical cancer.

In the U.S. alone, 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and nearly 4,000 will die every year.

Cervical cancer is caused by “high-risk” types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), and at least 50 percent of sexually active women will have HPV at some point in their lives. Two of the major issues with this disease are lack of education and lack of screening. Early detection through pap tests and HPV testing are key to preventing this disease from developing into cancer.

Currently, I am cancer free and I use my story to let women know that my story doesn’t have to be theirs and that they don’t have to be a statistic. I am also the NYC Chapter President of Tamika and Friends, Inc. (www.tamikaandfriends.org), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about cervical cancer. No women should die of this disease nor lose their fertility to cervical cancer.