HOUSTON – Marilyn Denning is living proof that cervical cancer is traumatizing.
“Not my mother, not my father -- no one had had cancer,” Marilyn Denning said. “I had my colon removed, my bladder removed, my vagina reconstructed, so yeah, really radical surgery."
She said she went through 20 days in the hospital and an accumulated 21 hours of surgery.
Cervical cancer can lead to a lifetime of physical changes and heartache.
“They lose their fertility, that can be their ovaries maybe taken out or certain organs, and so a lot of times that's really personal and detrimental to women, especially if they're younger,” said medical social worker Courtney Vastine from Baylor’s Woman to Woman program.
Human papillomavirus is a known cause of cervical, penile, anal and throat cancer.
Sixty-eight cancer hospitals, including MD Anderson and Baylor College of Medicine, signed a plan Wednesday to increase HPV vaccinations.
“It's preventable through the HPV vaccine," said Dr. Celestine Tung of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women. "We can prevent girls, women, young men from even getting the virus that causes cervical cancer.”
Tung said the vaccine has better efficacy if given before the onset of sexual intercourse. It can be given to women up to 26 years old and men up to age 21.
“The current guideline is to vaccinate boys and girls between 11 and 12, and can start as early as age 9,” Tung said.
The vaccine has a history of controversy. Opponents point to harsh side effects that have never been officially linked to the vaccine, and doctors say it's nothing compared to what someone's son our daughter's future may be without the vaccine.
“We tell our children to stop smoking because it causes lung cancer," Tung said. "This is a vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer and multiple other cancers, and people are afraid of it and they shouldn't be afraid, it's a very safe vaccine."
Meanwhile, Denning, whose almost made it five years cancer-free, said she is not afraid to put her stamp of approval on the vaccine, including for her family.
“I don't want her to have to go through anything like I’ve been through in my life,” Denning said.
