PSA: The Good Kind is Curable and Preventable
Cancer is not a new concept to us. We’ve lost family members, friends and even the children of friends to this disease way too often. We’ve watched others battle the disease and win after lengthy and painful treatments. Sometimes the diagnosis was attributed to lifestyle choices, work related exposure or genetics – but usually it was just one of those things that happened. Human nature leads us to want their cancer to be a caused by a risk factor that we can avoid. Turns out the “good cancer” has a cause and it is highly preventable.
When Dave went to the ENT, the doctor took a look down his throat with a scope, saw the tumor and didn’t hesitate to say that he was sure it was cancer. He followed up by saying that he sees 6-7 cases a week of men 45-65 years of age that have HPV related throat cancers. It turns out that a disease that 80% of the population will get at some point in their lifetime, one that normally goes away without incident, can sometimes hang out in our bodies and several decades later turn into cancer. In fact, there are 6 types of cancer that can be caused by the HPV virus, currently the only one that there is a test for is cervical cancer. That means that the others are caught much later, after symptoms begin to appear and the cure rate decreases.
According to cdc.gov/hpv: almost every person who is sexually active will get HPV at some time in their life without the HPV vaccination. About 14 million Americans, including teens, become infected with HPV each year. While most HPV infections will go away on their own, those that don’t go away can cause cancer. HPV is estimated to cause nearly 35,000 cases of cancer in men and women every year in the U.S., and the HPV vaccination can prevent more than 32,000 of these from ever developing into cancer by preventing the infections that cause them.
After Dave’s biopsy we waited for pathology to confirm that it was HPV 16 related cancer. While waiting, we did some research and found the statistics above and so many more. Reviewing my own children’s vaccine records, I remembered that when the HPV vaccine first came out, our oldest was the right age group, but it was an “if you want it” vaccine, like the flu. In fact, the words “when you become sexually active, we can talk again” were uttered, and with her fear of needles, I was pretty sure this meant I’d never have grandchildren. It wasn’t offered to our son at the time, because it was designed primarily for girls to prevent cervical cancer, and by the time they changed that protocol he was outside the initial age window. Only our youngest was vaccinated several years later. I am the queen of vaccinations and only 1/3 of my children were protected from a disease that might kill them 30-40 years from now.
When pathology confirmed the HPV 16 cancer, our son called his primary care physician and got vaccinated right away. We called our in-laws to suggest that our nephews be vaccinated, if they hadn’t, and we started telling anyone who would listen to do the same. The vaccine is recommended for those under 26, but they will vaccinate men and women from 27-45 if warranted by their physician – certainly a discussion worth having at your next visit.
For those of us over 45 – know the symptoms (Google it or ask us) and talk to your doctors. Of the 35,000 cases I mentioned earlier almost 14,000 of them will be the back of throat cancer, like Dave’s. Of those almost 14,000 cases, almost 12,000 are diagnosed in men. And, while it is highly treatable and comes with a 95% or better cure rate, when caught early – if you could skip the whole the experience, I would highly suggest it. So many things in life can’t be avoided, let this be one that can.