News
Texoma woman fulfilling sister's last wish to spread awareness of cervical cancer
DENISON -- According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 12,000 women are diagnosed and more than 4,000 die each year from cervical cancer.
A Texoma woman became part of that statistic 10 years ago.
Now her sister is trying to raise the profile of the illness by showing what happened, first hand.
Tuffy Mccurley says her sister, Carol Jean Hamilton, insisted on documenting her experience with cancer before it ended. McCurley recorded Hamilton on video not long before she died.
"It was about 15 minutes of being coherent. She said what she needed to say and it's a very powerful message to women.," McCurley said.
Hamilton was diagnosed with cervical cancer two years before the video was recorded.
She admits she ignored the symptoms. "I didn't take it seriously like most women should," Hamilton said in the recording.
"Next thing you know is she's running to the emergency room stage 4. It was too late," McCurley said.
Hamilton went through chemotherapy and radiation treatment but was eventually given 6 months to live.
She lost control of vital organs and weighed just 70 pounds when she died at the age of 40.
McCurley believes acting quicker and getting the HPV vaccine could have helped prevent the disease.
Doctor Todd Cutler is an OB/GYN in Sherman who says he diagnoses a woman about once a month with cervical cancer.
"Women ages 25-45 are most at risk and smokers are at a higher risk," he said.
Doctor Cutler says early detection is key to beating the cancer. Despite the controversy over the HPV vaccine he says, "The HPV vaccine is the holy grail of medicine that we've always all sought. So if you get the HPV vaccine before you're exposed, it'll prevent you from getting the HPV virus and cervical cancer."
Ten years after her death, McCurley is asking other woman to learn from her sister's experience.
"To watch your sibling go through the suffering that she went through, you cannot experience something like that and not do something about it. You cannot just stand by and watch that happen say, 'Well now what?" she said.
McCurley has created a short documentary and is trying to get funded for a women's cancer center in Oklahoma in Hamilton's name, fulfilling a sister's last wish in life and in death.
"Let's kick this cervical cancer in the butt. Let's get rid of it, starting today," Hamilton said in the video.
Cervical cancer forms in tissues of the cervix. It's usually a slow-growing cancer that may not have symptoms but can be found with regular pap tests.
The National Cancer Institute says cervical cancer is almost always caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
A Texoma woman became part of that statistic 10 years ago.
Now her sister is trying to raise the profile of the illness by showing what happened, first hand.
Tuffy Mccurley says her sister, Carol Jean Hamilton, insisted on documenting her experience with cancer before it ended. McCurley recorded Hamilton on video not long before she died.
"It was about 15 minutes of being coherent. She said what she needed to say and it's a very powerful message to women.," McCurley said.
Hamilton was diagnosed with cervical cancer two years before the video was recorded.
She admits she ignored the symptoms. "I didn't take it seriously like most women should," Hamilton said in the recording.
"Next thing you know is she's running to the emergency room stage 4. It was too late," McCurley said.
Hamilton went through chemotherapy and radiation treatment but was eventually given 6 months to live.
She lost control of vital organs and weighed just 70 pounds when she died at the age of 40.
McCurley believes acting quicker and getting the HPV vaccine could have helped prevent the disease.
Doctor Todd Cutler is an OB/GYN in Sherman who says he diagnoses a woman about once a month with cervical cancer.
"Women ages 25-45 are most at risk and smokers are at a higher risk," he said.
Doctor Cutler says early detection is key to beating the cancer. Despite the controversy over the HPV vaccine he says, "The HPV vaccine is the holy grail of medicine that we've always all sought. So if you get the HPV vaccine before you're exposed, it'll prevent you from getting the HPV virus and cervical cancer."
Ten years after her death, McCurley is asking other woman to learn from her sister's experience.
"To watch your sibling go through the suffering that she went through, you cannot experience something like that and not do something about it. You cannot just stand by and watch that happen say, 'Well now what?" she said.
McCurley has created a short documentary and is trying to get funded for a women's cancer center in Oklahoma in Hamilton's name, fulfilling a sister's last wish in life and in death.
"Let's kick this cervical cancer in the butt. Let's get rid of it, starting today," Hamilton said in the video.
Cervical cancer forms in tissues of the cervix. It's usually a slow-growing cancer that may not have symptoms but can be found with regular pap tests.
The National Cancer Institute says cervical cancer is almost always caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
