It’s a week to catch up for many. The kids are out of school, there’s extra time to plan. Will you make an appointment for your daughter to receive the Gardasil vaccine for HPV (human papilloma virus)? Still on the fence?
Of approximately 10,000 females ages 9-26, only 27 percent of those eligible for the HPV vaccine went through with getting the first of the three doses, says a new study from the American Academy of Cancer Research (statistic via Empowher.com).
Read more on the HPV vaccine from RAK archives here.
If you’re still weighing the pros and cons about whether or not to have your daughter vaccinated, you might want to read a personal account of one woman who lives with the effects of this virus every day.
Bonnie Diraimondo, RN, suffers from HPV and its complications. She tells her story in Any Mother’s Daughter: One Woman’s Lifelong Struggle with HPV.
Diraimondo was diagnosed with HPV in 1987 – 19 years before any such vaccine existed. Her precancerous lesions led to invasive cancer in 1991 and ultimately anal cancer in 2006.
Now an advocate for vaccination of HPV, Diraimondo urges young women to help protect themselves against the virus.
Her book was featured in the Gynecologic Cancer Society’s National Cervical Cancer Public Education Campaign to help educate women worldwide.
What do you know about HPV? Take Diraimondo’s HPV quiz.
