By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 26.02.2008 (Women’s Feature Service): After a routine Pap smear test, Susan Tailford was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 41. Each year in Australia, about 1,000 cases of cervical cancer result in the deaths of over 200 women.
“The shock of being diagnosed with any form of cancer is quite devastating. You want to blame someone, especially for a wart virus that was contracted through sexual intercourse. As there had been very few men in my life, my anger went from my ex-husband to my current partner. My ex-husband wasn’t around so my current partner had to cope with my anger and mood swings,” says Susan, a mother of two daughters.
Unlike some other cancers, cervical cancer is not hereditary. Almost all cases of cervical cancer are associated with some strains of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a sexually-transmitted virus.