by Kate Willoughby Hall, Richmondmom.com Founder
A couple of months ago, by sister-in-law in Florida posted a link on her Facebook page to her friend, Rachel Chastain’s Caringbridge page, asking for prayers. I felt compelled to read her story, and was saddened to see photos of this beautiful young mother who had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. I peeked at her family photos and felt like an uninvited guest into their lives, though her husband seemed to keep up the Caringbridge site dutifully and once I subscribed, I received regular updates from him on her health. Sadly, Rachel passed away this morning.
I was sharing with my husband that I had been following her, and it struck me that it may benefit others to learn a bit more about cervical cancer to share with all of you. So here goes.
On the site, Rachel urged the reader to “go get your Gardisil vaccination now!” To learn more, I trusted the National Cancer Institute. According to the site, cervical cancer is:
Cancer that forms in tissues of the cervix (the organ connecting the uterus and vagina). It is usually a slow-growing cancer that may not have symptoms but can be found with regular Pap tests (a procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix and looked at under a microscope). Cervical cancer is almost always caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. There are also illustrations explaining what goes where, which took me back to high school biology days and which were actually quite helpful in determining where everything was. The HPV virus is transmitted through sexual activity, and may not surface for years after the contact. I was surprised to find that many women in 30 even have HPV infections which just go away on their own.
After 30 years old, however it’s recommended the HPV test be administered with a pap smear to detect cancer and other problems. But what about prevention?
Because Rachel was adamant about Gardasil I researched that, too. Apparently it’s used in females aged 9-26 years old to prevent cancers including vulvular, cervical, and vaginal cancers. There is a wealth of information on Gardasil on the National Cancer Institute’s site. Texas even became the first state requiring that school-age girls receive the vaccine, the catalyst for a firestorm of controversy.
The good news is that there are treatments, much more effective in the early stages of cervical cancer; Rachel’s wasn’t detected until it was in Stage IV.
There were many dark days at the end of Rachel’s sickness, yet her husband was able to provide updates and even some humor into his posts. In one of his last posts he even said she became alert after being quite incoherent, and that “being a good southern girl, was hungry for grits!” These few entries gave me insight into how many people loved and cared for Rachel, and I hope that through her death we’ll learn more about prevention of this killer cancer.
Her message lives on through videos like this one.
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