Woman diagnosed with three types of cancer after learning husband of 30 years had cheated on her
A woman from Florida was diagnosed with multiple types of cancer, after she contracted a common STI.
The mother-of-four, who is also a teacher, wants to try and spare other people the pain she has been through, as she says a vaccine could have prevented the cancers from developing.
Eileen McGill Fox learned that her husband of 30 years had been unfaithful to her, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
Following the discovery of her husband's infidelity, she went straight to a local health clinic to get tested for sexually transmitted infections.
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Fortunately, she tested negative for syphilis, gonorrhoea and HIV, and was relieved to think she was in the clear.
However, 12 months later, after her annual smear test she was told she tested positive for Human Papilloma Virus, also known as HPV.
It is a common STI that isn't tested for in usual sexual health screening panels.
According to the NHS, more than 70% of unvaccinated people will get HPV.
Doctors warned her it put her at 'high risk' of cancers of the cervix, anus, vulva, vagina and throat.
Shockingly, just two months later, Fox was diagnosed with vulvar cancer, and a a cervical cancer diagnosis quickly followed in 2019.
A few years later, in 2023, Fox was diagnosed with anal cancer, too.
She was frustrated to find that many of the cancers were preventable with the vaccine, which she said she did not opt for when it came out as she was married with children at the time and did not think she needed it.
In the years since, Fox has undergone a hysterectomy along with multiple other brutal treatments to remove the cancer and additional pre-cancerous cells.
HPV has now been linked to six different types of cancer, including penile, head and neck cancers.
Susan Vadaparampil is a researcher at Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center where she studies the uptake of vaccines, and told the Tampa Bay Times: "If you were in a room full of parents 20-plus years ago and you said, ‘There’s a vaccine that could prevent up to six different types of cancer in your child,’ people would probably be lining up."
She added: "Obviously it hasn’t translated as we had hoped.”
Fox is keen to break the stigma and to raise awareness of the damage HPV can cause: “When I tell people I have anal cancer, I’m like, ‘It is what it is,’ let’s talk about vulvas and anuses and cervixes. Let’s remove the stigma and the shadow language for dealing with it.”
“If it can happen to a married woman of 30 years, then it can happen to anybody,” she insists, saying even as a mother-of-four who devoted herself to others, she still found herself 'on the receiving end of this vicious, vicious virus.'
The NHS warns that most people never show symptoms, and do not know they have it.
Vaccination in the UK
In the UK, the HPV vaccine is now routinely offered to girls and boys aged 12–13 through school-based programmes.
It was introduced for girls in September 2008, and has since been offered to boys from September 2019.
It is also free on the NHS for anyone up to age 25, and older adults can opt for a private version.
Since the vaccine was introduced, according to the government there has been an almost 90% reduction in cervical cancer rates in vaccinated age groups.
Topics: Cancer, Sex and Relationships, Health, Lifestyle, NHS, US News
Jen Thomas