Meet Catherine, one of the most amazing women I know, and her six-year-old daughter. Catherine recently agreed to tell her story to her community, to encourage other women to come for cervical cancer screening. I and my co-fellow had the honor and privilege of being there when she told her story. Here’s what she said:
“My name is Catherine. I found out I was HIV-positive in 2002. However, I didn’t begin treatment until 2004, when ARVs (life-saving HIV medications) became available. Before starting ARVs, I had no children, because my children would die at the age 6 months from HIV. Thanks to ARVs, I now have two beautiful, HIV-negative children, a six-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy. I’m so grateful for my healthy family.
I first heard about cervical cancer screening in 2010, when a peer educator gave a presentation on cervical cancer at the ARV clinic. I decided to go for screening even though I was afraid to know whether or not I had cancer. I was told I had pre-cancer cells, which could cause cervical cancer in the future. The nurse removed the pre-cancer cells the same day.
Now, I go for screening regularly, and I’m happy to report I’m doing fine. If I hadn’t gone for screening, I might have been dead by now. Thank god for all the donors who support the cervical cancer screening program. They’re saving the lives of us women. Women are the leaders and future of our children, and if I had died, my children would have been lost. But I am healthy and I can do everything a normal woman can do. I encourage all women to take a step and go for cervical cancer screening. Only then will we live as free women.”
I’m so grateful to Catherine for having the courage to share her story, so that other women might have the courage to come for cervical cancer screening. I’m also grateful to the screening nurses and the others who have supported the Cervical Cancer Prevention Programme in Zambia this past year. Here’s to many more years of a successful program!