Learning About Cervical Cancer, an HPV-Related Cancer
- As cervical cancer survivor and popular TV personality Erin Andrews is busy working as an NFL sportscaster, she admits it’s “hard” not being with her son every moment of her life.
- Andrews, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer during a routine screening in 2016 and treated the disease with surgery, welcomed her first child into the world with her former NHL player husband Jarret Stroll last year.
- Cervical cancer begins in the cells lining the cervix the lower part of the womb (uterus). Treatment options for cervical cancer include surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. HPV (human papillomavirus), a sexually-transmitted virus, causes more than 70% of cervical cancer cases.
- It’s important to note that cervical cancer is an HPV-related cancer. To reduce the risk of your children developing HPV or an HPV-related cancer, make sure they get the HPV vaccine, particularly between ages 9 and 12.
- Nearly every sexually-active person will get the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection at some point in their lives. And this virus puts both men and women at risk of developing several cancers including cancers of the cervix, vagina, penis, anus and throat.
- While the HPV vaccine is traditionally administered to adolescent girls, teenagers, and young women, older adults who don’t have HPV can still very much benefit from receiving it as well.
The 45-year-old American sports commentator, who has become a successful TV personality, podcaster and clothing-line designer throughout the years, opened up in a recent interview on what it’s like to be a working mom with a six-month-old at home after a years-long IVF journey.
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After attempting to get pregnant throughout the past 10 years, Andrews’ son Mack Roger Stoll was born on on June 28, 2023.
Recounting being told “surrogacy gives you a better chance” amid her fertility struggles, she admitted, “I had to get help. The day we found out that the transfer didn’t work, I called my friends and was like, ‘I can’t feel my legs.’ I was so messed up over it. I didn’t process it. I was like, It’s fine, it’s fine. We’ll get through it.’ It was not fine. A month later, I was having problems forming sentences. I was just not dealing with my grief properly. I had to talk to somebody.”
Looking back at that difficult time Andrews said she put all her energy into work as a distraction, saying, “I looked at it as an outlet to get the hell away from my reality.”
Noting how she also had her husband to support her, she added, “I wish it was in our [cultural] conversation more than it is. People need to talk more about it because these fertility clinic waiting rooms are packed. It took my ninth try to be like, F**k this. I’m going to be open about this. I’m tired of being so strong. If I get one more vial of blood drawn, I’m going to scream.”
Andrews, who started dating Stoll in 2012 and later married him in 2016, previously spoke with Business Insider about how the overall chances of having a live birth via surrogate is approximately 41%.
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She told the news outlet, “We were not prepared for how difficult and risky it is [surrogacy].”
Andrews and her husband transferred two embryos to their first surrogate, but both were unsuccessful. It wasn’t until five more surrogates were screened that they found the woman who ultimately carried their son Mack.
Andrews, who has a nanny to help with her busy work NFL schedule, also told Insider about how she is dealing with mom guilt, saying, “I just don’t think I’m doing much parenting right now.”
She continued, “I need to be nice to myself. I did so much to get him there. I don’t think I’m giving myself enough credit. All moms don’t feel like they’re doing enough.”
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Erin Andrews’ Cervical Cancer Battle
Erin Andrews was 38 when doctors detected cervical cancer during a routine pap screening in 2016.
Since her diagnosis, Andrews has been a vocal advocate for women to stay current on their cancer screenings. To treat her cancer, Andrews underwent two surgeries.
Prior to surgery, she had In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) to preserve her fertility.
Cervical cancer is detected via a pap smear test, which looks for early signs of cervical cancer. Nurse Practitioner Barbara Dehn told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, “Many women think that a Pap smear checks for ovarian cancer, but it doesn't. Pap smears detect only cervical cancer, not all gynecologic cancers.
“In fact, there is no test that detects ovarian cancer in its earliest stages, which is why two-thirds to three-quarters of women are diagnosed at a later stage, when the disease has spread to nearby tissues and organs.”
Managing Fertility & Cervical Cancer
- Motherhood After Cancer Treatment Yes, It’s Possible: Here’s What You Should Know About Fertility Preservation
- Can the U.S. Eliminate Cervical Cancer? Australia Says It’s About to Do Just That
- Intimacy After Cervical Cancer — “It’s a Journey”
- New Research Touts Benefits Of DIY Cervical Cancer Test, But Experts Say ‘Not So Fast’
- Preserving Fertility During Cancer Treatment: What Are the Options?
Every year in the U.S., approximately 11,500 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Getting pap smears to detect for cervical cancer is critically important because an earlier diagnosis may mean a better prognosis and broader treatment options.
Understanding Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer begins in the cells lining the cervix, the lower part of the womb (uterus). Treatment options for cervical cancer include surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.
It’s important to note that HPV (human papillomavirus), a sexually-transmitted virus, causes more than 70% of cervical cancer cases.
Additionally, other risk factors like smoking can make you about twice as likely to get cervical cancer as those who don’t smoke.
Cervical cancer screening is critically important because an earlier diagnosis can mean a better prognosis with broader treatment options.
The American Cancer Society recommends that cervical cancer screening begins at age 25, and people aged 25 to 65 should have a primary HPV test, an HPV test done by itself for screening, every 5 years. If primary HPV testing is not available, however, screening may be done with either a co-test that combines an HPV test with a Papanicolaou (Pap) test every 5 years or a Pap test alone every 3 years.
The most common symptoms of cervical cancer can include:
- Abnormal vaginal bleeding, such as bleeding after vaginal sex, bleeding after menopause, after douching, bleeding and spotting in between periods or having heavier or longer (menstrual) periods than usual.
- Unusual discharge from the vagina that may contain some blood and may occur between your periods or after menopause.
- Pain during sex.
- Pain in the pelvic region.
Surrogacy and Gestational Carriers
In some cases after cancer treatment, women may have difficulty giving birth to a child or they may be unable to at all. Having someone else carry their baby may be an option, either through surrogacy or a gestational carrier.
Freezing Eggs Or Embryos: What Should I Do?
According to the National Cancer Institute, a surrogate pregnancy, which Erin Andrews had, is “a type of pregnancy in which a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for a person who is not able to have children.”
“In a surrogate pregnancy, eggs from the woman who will carry the baby or from an egg donor are fertilized with sperm from a sperm donor to make an embryo,” the institute explains.
“The embryo is implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother, who carries the baby until birth. Surrogate pregnancy may be an option for men or women who want to have children and have had certain anticancer treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, that can cause infertility.”
As for a gestational carrier, the institute describes this person as “a woman who carries and gives birth to a baby for a person who is not able to have children.”
“Eggs from an egg donor are fertilized in the laboratory with sperm from a sperm donor to make an embryo. The embryo is implanted in the uterus of the gestational surrogate, who carries the baby until birth. The gestational surrogate (or carrier) is not genetically related to the baby and is not the biological mother.”
If you or someone you know is deciding on whether or not to go the route of surrogacy or gestational carrier, it’s important to know that each state has different laws and it may be necessary to speak with an attorney before moving forward.
The Connection to HPV
HPV has been linked to several cancers, but most prominently to cervical cancer. In fact, experts say that the virus, which is transmitted sexually and extremely common in the United States, is responsible for 96% of cervical cancers and the leading cause of the disease in the country. Fortunately, the HPV vaccine can prevent these cancers.
In addition to cervical cancer, HPV has also been linked to:
- Anal cancer
- Vaginal and vulvar cancers
- Penile cancers
- Throat cancers
HPV can cause cancer in both men and women.
“The vast majority of humans in the U.S., both men and women, will eventually get infected with human papillomavirus,” Dr. Allen Ho, a head and neck surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, told SurvivorNet in a previous conversation.
Dr. Allen Ho explains what HPV is and how it is linked to cancer
“The important thing to know about HPV is that there are many different strains, and only a couple of them tend to be more cancer-inducing,” Dr. Ho explained.
“Probably less than 1% of the population who get infected happen to have the cancer-causing virus that somehow their immune system fails to clear, and over 15 to 20 years [it] develops from a viral infection into a tumor, and a cancer.”
Who Should Get the HPV Vaccine?
While the HPV vaccine is traditionally administered to adolescent girls, teenagers, and young women, older adults who don’t have HPV can still very much benefit from receiving it as well.
The HPV vaccine is approved in the U.S. for people up to age 45, though it’s recommended that children get it before they become sexually active, as HPV is transmitted through sexual contact. Gardasil 9 protects against nine strains of HPV, including the strains most likely to cause cancer and genital warts. But it can’t provide protection if a person has already been exposed to HPV. That’s why doctors recommend it for children as young as 9.
Those eligible should get vaccinated against HPV, SurvivorNet experts say. Also, contrary to some detrimental misinformation circulated online, the HPV vaccine is entirely safe.
HPV and Cancer Risk The Basics
There are virtually no side effects with this vaccine, Dr. Jonathan Berek, director of the Women’s Cancer Center at Stanford Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet. It is “incredibly safe,” he added.
HPV is responsible for 34,800 cases of cancer in the U.S. each year, but 90% of them can be prevented thanks to the HPV vaccine Gardasil.
“Both boys and girls should be vaccinated with HPV to prevent cervical cancer in women, throat cancer in men, as well as anal cancer in both men and women because those are HPV-related malignancies as well,” Dr. Teknos, the scientific director of the Seidman Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet in a previous interview.
“If you look at the percentage of patients who developed throat cancer, really, cancer of the tonsils and the base of the tongue, in the 80s compared to the 2010s, if you will, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300%.”
Which HPV Vaccines Are Available?
Thankfully, we have three types of HPV vaccines — Gardasil 9, Gardasil and Cervarix. All three went through years of extensive safety testing before being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the CDC reports that HPV vaccination has the potential to prevent more than 90 percent of HPV-attributable cancers.
The HPV vaccines, like other immunizations that guard against viral infection, stimulate the body to produce antibodies that attack if they encounter the HPV infection by binding to the virus and preventing it from infecting cells. HPV vaccines do not prevent other sexually transmitted diseases or treat existing HPV infections/HPV-caused disease, but their implementation can reduce the rates of certain cancers.
And while Dr. Susan Vadaparampil, the associate center director of community outreach, engagement and equity at Moffitt Cancer Center, previously told SurvivorNet there are few medical strategies that totally prevent against getting cancer in the first place, she emphasized that data from countries with high rates of vaccine coverage show decreases in HPV-related pre-cancer and cancer, particularly so in the case of cervical cancer.
“We have a safe and effective vaccine to prevent HPV-related cancer,” Dr. Vadaparampil told SurvivorNet. “It is widely available, and costs are typically covered by private or public insurance.”
Eileen Duffey-Lind, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Children’s Hospital, echoed Dr. Vadaparampil’s sentiment.
“No one should die of a preventable cancer like those tied to HPV, especially since we have a highly effective and safe vaccine available,” Duffey-Lind previously told SurvivorNet.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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