Christine

It happened to me.
I never thought it would. But then I went for my pap - like I did every year - but this time it was different... they had me come back, then had some more pieces looked at, and then I got the phone call...

invasive cervical cancer - extensive lymphatic invasion.
Ten days later, a hysterectomy.
month later, a laproscopic surgery.
a week after that, 5 weeks of daily pelvic radiation.
at the same time - 4 rounds of chemotherapy.
after that, 3 rounds of internal radiation. then i was done.

LOL.
not really laugh out loud at all.

I was 31. I was sad and mad and confused...
it sucked.
Everything I knew was different. I felt like shit. I thought I was no longer me and never would be.
BEFORE cancer I liked to sing.
BEFORE cancer I liked to hang with my friends.
BEFORE cancer I had energy.

Everything was BEFORE cancer, and now I was AFTER...
and it would never be the same.
BUT
then I found my voice.
again.
I started to sing and to talk and to SCREAM because I realized I had something to SAY!
I didn't know anything about cervical cancer before I had it.
but I learned.
and then I wanted to share with EVERYone.
so I did.
I got friends to come and sing and play and help me spread the word:
CERVICAL CANCER IS PREVENTABLE!
talk to your doctor - get the best pap available - get your HPV test if you are 30+ -

and NOW
get the HPV vaccine if you are 9-26 years old...
because we CAN prevent this cancer.
it's the ONLY one we KNOW what causes it - and we have PREVENTION and DETECTION tools -
we should use them.
to save fertility.
to save lives.
so I took my singing show on the road and called it The YELLOW UMBRELLA Tour....
and then I teamed up with my survivor sister TAMIKA and developed SAY-SOMETHING.ORG...
and now I just keep on singing and talking to ANYone who will listen!
because people connect with people and people need to know that THIS can happen to ANYone.
it happened to me.
and I'm the girl next door, singing songs, living and loving life.
I started www.theYellowUmbrella.org to try to DO something about it.
I hope YOU DO SOMETHING too.
rock on and on.
cb