This week is Cervical Cancer Prevention Week. It is 11 years ago this March that Jade Goody passed away from cervical cancer, she was just 27 years old. She had her whole life ahead of her with her 2 little boys and husband.

I remember hearing on the radio that Jade had passed away and it really hit me hard. The reason for this was because I myself was just 2 years free from stage 3 bowel cancer. When I heard of people who had passed away from cancer it really made me stop and think about how lucky I’d been. If I hadn’t have gone to the doctors when I did, I could’ve had stage 4 bowel cancer which has a survival rate of just 14%. It was my mum that made me go to the doctors back in September 2007. Luckily the doctor that I saw had a knowledge of bowel diseases and I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy within a month. I was diagnosed with Familial Adenomatous Polyposis on 18th December 2007 and was told that I had bowel cancer. A couple of weeks after Christmas I was referred to the Royal Hospital in Liverpool for biopsies which confirmed that some polyps had turned cancerous. I had surgery the following week just before my 31st birthday where my large bowel was removed. It was also confirmed that the cancer had spread to localised lymph nodes which meant that I had stage 3 bowel cancer. If I had left it much longer the cancer would’ve spread into nearby organs making it stage 4 cancer which means that my treatment options are a lot less as is the survival rate.

It is so important to catch cancer early in order to get the best possible treatment and survival rates. The same goes for cervical cancer.

Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust want to ensure all women and people with a cervix know how cervical cancer can be prevented. This means:

· Attending cervical screening when invited.

· Knowing the symptoms of cervical cancer and seeking medical advice if experiencing any.

· Taking up the HPV vaccination if aged 11- 18.

The Facts about HPV

· At some point in our lives, 4 out of 5 (80%) of us will get at least one type of HPV.

· In most cases the immune system will get rid of it. around 90% of HPV infections clear within 2 years.

· HPV infections do not usually have any symptoms, so you may not even know you had it.

· HPV lives on our skin, so it is easy to get and difficult to completely protect against.

· You are at risk of getting HPV from your first sexual contact, whatever that is – it doesn’t have to be penetrative sex.

· We can have HPV for a long time without knowing about it, so it is hard to know when we got HPV or who we got it from.

· Cervical screening (a smear test) can find a high risk HOV virus and changes early, before it develops into cancer.

· For more information: https://www.jostrust.org.uk/information