In 2008, after twenty years of service with the New York City Police Department and ready to enjoy my retirement with my husband, I got the most unexpected shocking news. My doctor diagnosed me with stage IIB cervical cancer.
What? I didn’t have any symptoms!!! Where did it come from? How did I get it? So many questions, I was clueless. Well, needless to say I got a crash course, and I was scared beyond belief. At the same time I was blaming myself for being so careless since I had not visited my GYN for three years.
My husband and I left the doctor’s office numb. I was about to fight for my life, and not knowing if I was going to make it. Coming face to face with your own mortality is pretty scary.
We had to recharge, so my husband, a pretty smart man in my book, sat down and began to empower himself with knowledge of the disease. As for me, due to misconceptions of the disease, I was ashamed that I had cervical cancer due to the Human Papilloma Virus – a sexually transmitted infection.
My husband of ten years at the time did not question me or look at me with any doubts, instead he began to educate me about the virus and the disease.
My tumor was considered too big, so I was not a candidate for a hysterectomy, instead my treatments were going to consist of chemotherapy, external and internal radiation. I was going to get radiation every day for the next 7 weeks and chemo once a week for the same 7 weeks. As well as two treatments of internal radiation, also known as brachytherapy.
The journey was hard to endure, but with the grace of God, my wonderful doctors, the support of my husband, my family and friends, I was able to get to the other side.
At the end of April, 2009, I had a PET scan to see if treatments had worked. On May 5, 2009-my prayers had been answered. My tumor was GONE and there were no visible cancer cells. The nightmare was over, and my doctor finally said the words that I have been praying to hear: “YOU ARE CANCER FREE”
Three months after my doctor had giving me the thumbs up, I participated on a cervical cancer prevention and awareness walk – “Walk to Beat the Clock” by the Tamika & Friends organization. At the walk, I immediately felt the warmth of all my survivor sisters and said to myself “I am not alone.” Don’t get me wrong, I had the support of my wonderful husband, family and friends all along and that’s important, but these amazing women knew exactly what I had gone through and they were sharing their own stories similar to mine.
I felt inspired and I wanted to join the movement. I was not keeping quiet anymore. I was grateful for my second shot at life, I wanted to pay it forward, and share my own story. I wanted to educate other women and let them know that my journey did not have to be theirs.
I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have survived this disease. Unfortunately there are over 4,000 women in the US alone that don’t make it, and die from this disease. These women are someone’s daughter, sister, mother, wife, niece. NO Woman Should Feel Alone in this Fight. No Woman Should Die or Lose their Fertility from Cervical Cancer!!
– Patti Murillo-Casa
