Cervical cancer awareness month

January is cervical cancer awareness month. According to the American Cancer Society, this year over 4,000 women will die from cervical cancer. Angelina Assanti, is an award winning author who wrote about her survival story. Her book is called "Thank God I got cancer...I'm not a hypochondriac anymore." According to Seercancer.gov, cervical cancer has a 67.1% 5-year survival rate. There were 12,820 reported cases in 2017, resulting in 4,210 deaths. Compared to other cancer, cervical cancer is less likely to result in death than breast cancer or lung cancer. Cervical cancer has been portrayed as a "young woman's disease" but the average age of a woman dying from cervical cancer is 58-years-old. Usually early stage cervical cancer does not have symptoms but can be detected early with an annual pap smear. Assanti says she did not display any symptoms. She says her cat was diagnosed with a sarcoma and died a few months before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Assanti adds that her goal is to get women to the doctor because early detection saved her life.