It always happens to someone else, until it happens to you...

You hear about it almost every day.

In the news, on television, statistics, sometimes even friends of friends.

Yet you never think it's going to happen to you. Until it does.

I never contemplated being directly impacted by cancer.

I never even entertained the prospect that my friends or family would ever fall victim to it.

Yet they have.

Considering the statistics, it's quite illogical to think cancer won't touch your life, one way or another.

Two of my brother's closest friends lost their lives to cancer.

My mother was diagnosed with cancer - a devastating reality check if ever I've had one.

Surgery and a benign tumour resulted in her survival. An outcome I am thankful for every day.

Most recently, my sister-in-law was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer.

My fit, healthy, gorgeous, young sister-in-law.

The tumour was discovered during her pregnancy. What mixed emotions are felt when one of the most special times is also an immensely scary time.

Early detection saved her life - thank God for her little baby boy whose development lead to the discovery of the cancer.

Perhaps the most important reality is yes, cancer does exist, it's common and it can happen to you - but in many cases can be cured if detected early enough.

The following guest post by Helen Marsden from the Cancer Council is an important reminder to stop making excuses, and protect yourself from Cervical Cancer.

Thirty-eight and a half Australian women out of every hundred don’t have a Pap test, or Pap smear, every two years as recommended.

That’s according to the latest stats available from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

It’s difficult to imagine what the other half of the 39th woman who IS having her cervix checked over is doing, but that’s stats for you I guess.

I’ve been working at PapScreen for four months now, but I still find it hard to believe that well over a third of women don’t go for cervical screening, concern for the oddly divided woman notwithstanding.

I thought everyone (women, obviously) just WENT for Pap tests every two years. To be honest, I don’t I think I knew why I went for them, or even how I found out I should (my Mum certainly didn’t tell me).

I just did.

So why is it that so many women don’t?

I mean: take time out of your busy day, blush furiously as you tell the doctor you’d like a Pap test, strip halfway down in front of a stranger, assume a very compromising position, then have a dab of your cells taken out and whisked off to a lab where more perfect strangers look at a tiny piece of your insides very VERY closely through a microscope.

Wow, look at that queue forming!

I think the best – maybe only – way to deal with the whole cringeworthy thing is by retaining an extremely healthy (as healthy as your cervix will be) sense of humour. It’s just one of many not-totally-brilliant things woman have to do - years of paying for tampons that could be spent on holidays, days spent trying to find a bikini with more coverage than dental floss, bi-annually having our breasts squashed within an inch of their lives during mammograms in our senior years.

But there is, of course, a reason why we have to do all these things … maybe apart from the bikini.

And there are some extremely good reasons why you should have a Pap test every two years.

1. It prevents around 90% of cervical cancers. 90%!

2. Over 90% of women diagnosed with cervical cancer in Victoria either never had a Pap test, or had not had Pap tests regularly before being diagnosed. I’m no statistician, but we can assume that this percentage would roughly apply Australia-wide.

3. It’s one of the very few cancers that can be pretty much prevented. Pap tests allow women to take control of their bodies and say with a large degree of certainty that “cervical cancer will not happen to me”.

In short, women should be flocking in their droves every two years to take advantage of this test, one of the great discoveries benefiting the fairer sex – which was, incidentally, tried and tested by a Greek doctor (a certain Mr Papanicolaou) in the early twentieth century on his long-suffering wife, who manfully (or womanfully) allowed him to try out his ‘Pap test’ on her almost EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR 20 YEARS.

Now there’s a woman with a sense of humour.

At PapScreen we know there are lots of reasons why women don’t screen (we’ve done the research). We then spend a lot of our time trying to persuade women that yes, we see your point, but here are some reasons why you should go and get it done anyway. Hit me with them, I hear you cry! Ok, here goes …

1. It’s embarrassing.
See above – yes, for many of us it is! But think of the benefits, try to keep smiling, and luxuriate in the knowledge that almost 10,000 other women in Australia are doing the very same thing today. My tip: ask for a female doctor or nurse.

2. I’m scared I will have cervical cancer / that it will hurt.
Remember – the Pap test looks for changes to the cells of the cervix that may LEAD to cervical cancer. It’s like a pre-pre-warning that cancer may occur years later.

To put it into perspective, in Victoria almost 93 out of every 100 Pap tests come back completely normal.

Of the remaining seven, two have an ‘unsatisfactory sample’ and just need to go for a repeat test, four will have ‘low grade’ changes that only require monitoring and just one will need treatment for higher grade changes which can in most cases be treated quickly and easily. Once the changes have been corrected, your chances of developing cervical cancer are greatly reduced.

Pap tests can be a bit uncomfortable, but they shouldn’t hurt. If it does, tell your doctor or nurse straight away.

3. I don’t have time to go.
Think it about it like this. Half an hour out of your day tops once every two years (I spend almost that long EACH DAY thinking about whether to get out of bed) versus the potential months of treatment and anxiety if you are unlucky enough to be diagnosed with cervical cancer.

4. I don’t understand why I need to have a Pap test.
Here comes the science bit!

Pap tests detect changes in the cells of the cervix that may lead to cervical cancer in the future.

These changes in the cells are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is transmitted by genital skin to genital skin contact – it’s completely normal to have HPV and most women will have HPV at some point in their lives. In the vast majority of cases HPV clears the body naturally. Sometimes if it doesn’t it can lead to the changes in the cervical cells that develop into cancer.

By having a Pap test every two years, any changes can be detected and treated early.

5. I’ve had the cervical cancer vaccine, I don’t need to have Pap tests.
Nice try, but no cigar – and not only because tobacco products are persona non grata to cancer prevention types. The cervical cancer vaccine is extremely good, and protects you against the two types of HPV that cause 70% of cervical cancer. However it doesn’t protect you against all of them. You might also have been exposed to some HPV types if you were sexually active before having the vaccine.

PapScreen’s motto? Even if you’ve had the vaccine, continue to have Pap tests every two years between the ages of 18 and 70.

6. I’m lesbian, I don’t need Pap tests.
Nice try, but etc etc. PapScreen is here to tell you that lesbians need Pap tests too! HPV can also be passed on by genital skin to genital skin contact between women, so lesbians are also at risk of developing cervical cancer.

7. I don’t know where to get a Pap test.
This one we admit can be a hassle. For Victorians, the PapScreen website www.papscreen.org.au has a handy Pap test provider finder where you can search for your nearest clinic by post code. You can even find clinics with female doctors and nurses, find out what languages are spoken in each clinic and see if the clinic has disability access. (The same applies for the rest of the country, and dare I say, the world).

Ah, the magic of the world wide web.

So yeah that’s it I guess. Pap tests: embarrassing, a little bit funny, but well worth it all things considered.

Cancer just isn't trendy enough...

A new Bowel Cancer awareness advertisement is using a fictional terrorist scene to highlight the prevalence of the cancer in Australia.



The advertisement depicts scenes reminiscent to those of the 911 terrorist attacks, taking place over Sydney's Circular Quay, complete with smokey buildings, wailing sirens and body bags.

The voice over says: If 12 Australians were killed by terrorists it would be front page news. Yet 12 Australian men and women die from bowel cancer every single day. That’s more than breast cancer but no-one wants to talk about it, even though it’s curable if detected early.

(see full story: http://mumbrella.com.au/cancer-ad-features-terror-attack-on-sydney-14368#more-14368)

While this advertisement is set to be highly controversial - and clearly risks offending, distressing and angering anyone who has survived or lost loved ones to a terrorist attack - it has got people talking.

As a result, it's highlighted the fact that, as a nation, we seem to have become immune to the devastation that is cancer.

The figures are so astronomical, we barely give them a second thought.

They don't warrant much mention in the media, despite the fact that cancer is Australia's biggest killer.

Here are a few facts:

*More than 35,000 Australians die from cancer each year, in spite of a 30 percent improvement in survival over the last two decades.

*1 in 3 Australian men and 1 in 4 Australian women will be directly affected by cancer.

*Most people in Australia will be affected by cancer, either personally or through family and friends.

*This year alone, more than 82,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Australia.

If you stop and think about it, these figures are incredible.

I am one of those people who have been affected by cancer - I haven't been diagnosed with it myself - but people I know and love have.

Some have survived, others have not.

Those of you who have experienced the impact of cancer will know, it's one of the most terrifying and traumatic events you will ever endure.

But it seems we are no longer outraged by such tragedies.

When natural disasters occur, we rally together, have telethons and fundraising concerts - we all unite to raise millions of dollars for these far more trendy causes.

Indeed terrorism also provokes a similar response.

And so it should, this support provides much needed help to thousands of devastated families dealing with tragic events.

But cancer is also tragic, effecting everyone from babies and children to parents and friends.

It was not so long ago, our wish-giving foundations were forced to reduce the quality of the wishes granted, due to a lack of funding.

I have seen first hand the impact these wishes give and these charities are simply amazing, run mostly by volunteers.

We also know the survival rate for many common cancers has increased by more than 30 per cent in the past two decades, due to treatment improvements and new interventions brought about by research.

Research which is often funded by donations.

But the most important point is many of these cancers are curable if detected early enough. Yet few of us take the risk so seriously as to have regular checkups, deeming them too unpleasant.

The Bowel Cancer advertisement is certainly shocking, and I don't know that I support it, given the impact it must have on terrorism survivors and witnesses.

But perhaps the controversy will at least attract some much needed attention to one of Australia's biggest killers.