Guest Writer: Amanda Marie - Get Screened!

Amanda Marie

Amanda Marie has become a friend in the last few years whom I admire for her fearless activism for women, for children, for education, for freedom and liberty. And, she is not shy in taking on bigotry, sexism, racism, and fascism. We are thrilled to have her share her very personal story of survival and triumph over cancer with us.

I had cervical cancer. I was 30 years old, I was at my gynecologist after my postpartum visit from having my youngest child, and I had a routine pap. That routine pap came back with abnormal cells. And those abnormal cells turned out to be a fairly aggressive form of stage zero cervical cancer, which resulted in me having to have 2/3's of my cervix removed. I was extremely lucky. I had two back to back pregnancies, which sent my hormones into overdrive for 14 months straight, unchecked, with no pap test, and an aggressive form a HPV laying dormant in my body, waiting to attack. A pap saved my life. It literally saved my life. I am here today, because of a pap smear. I'm writing all of this tonight for several reasons:

1. Women are afraid to admit that they have HPV. They think because you can only get HPV through sexual transmission, that somehow, it means they are "less than" or did something wrong. I'm here to say that 80% of the population has HPV, both male and female. Basically, if you've had sex and you're not a millennial, you have HPV. But even if HPV wasn't so prevalent throughout the population, we need to stop looking at sexually transmitted diseases as anything more than what they are- diseases that should to be treated like cancer or heart disease. We need to remove the stigma from them.

2. So many people I know are NOT keeping up with their regular health screenings. When I have conversations with people on the subject of mammograms, pap smears or colonoscopies, I cannot begin to tell you how many people tell me that they have not had their regular exams. When I tell people my story, it doesn't seem to even convince them. I cannot begin to understand. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. All of these cancers are highly curable if caught early. And if not caught early, they will ravage your body. You will probably never even have a symptom before it's too late. I had none.

3. Elections have consequences- This election will have serious and profound consequences for women's health. This is not an exaggeration or understatement. Women will die as a result of this election. If Roe is not upheld, even more women will die. Women's health clinics are shutting down in Arkansas, as a result of Justice Kennedy, (who was once firmly on the side of choice, but who is now rumored to have been "courted" by Ivanka Trump all spring and hosted for lunches and persuaded to retire), by not allowing cases to come before the court on medical abortion, thus shutting down clinics in that state. I can think of several women who, at the last minute, were "persuaded" to vote for Trump over Hillary. What went through their heads, I will never begin to understand. How the pussy grabbing, the making fun of the disabled, and all of the other disgusting shit was not enough is beyond my reasoning, but whatever. They will live with the knowledge that their vote has sealed the fate of so many future girls and women who counted on them.

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4 There is now a vaccine that stops most men and women from contracting many strains of HPV. It is called Gardasil. It needs to be started before kids become sexually active. It wasn’t around when my daughter Ashley was an adolescent, but Justin and Aidyn were vaccinated. Sadly, many, many kids who were able to be vaccinated were not. And why weren’t they? A lot of very misinformed, often male pediatricians convinced parents that this was not a good idea. Or had a “moral” objection to anything but “abstinence only” prevention. Or whatever. Bad science, and shitty American puritanical bullshit kept a whole generation of American kids from being properly vaccinated.

I write all of this tonight, because there was a time when I would have felt weak and powerless, and small and afraid. There was a time when I would not have wanted to talk about having HPV, because it made me feel embarrassed. And there was a time that I lived my life in fear, always smiled, tried to make everyone happy, tried to be perfect, and play the role of "Super Woman". I'm not Super Woman. I'm no longer afraid to just be who I am. I'm a highly flawed woman who made many questionable decisions in a questionable but very fun (and some parts no-so fun) sexual past that NO ONE should ever have to pay for with her life. I could be anyone. And if I was a man, my story would be told over laughs and drinks. But as a woman, it ended in cervical cancer, that thankfully, was caught. But that is my story. And I share it tonight, hoping that it saves someone's life, by convincing them to get a pap, get a mammogram, get a colonoscopy. Stop being an asshole and put your health and your life back in your hands.