Tamika Felder always wanted a family.

But her hopes for a future pregnancy were crushed when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 25.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” said Felder, now 50, whose treatment included radiation, chemotherapy, and a hysterectomy, in which the uterus is removed. “I was glad I didn’t die, but losing my fertility honestly felt like death.”

Vaccines that prevent infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes 90% of cervical cancers, weren’t available when Felder was a child. 

“I know for a fact my parents would have vaccinated me,” Felder said.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first HPV shot in 2006. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that boys and girls get their first dose of HPV vaccine at ages 9 to 12.

Felder, who founded a support group called Cervivor when she completed cancer treatment, shares her story to encourage parents to agree to vaccinate their children against HPV. About 50,000 people a year in the United States are diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer, which spreads through sexual contact. HPV causes tumors of the anus, head and neck, penis, vagina, and vulva.

Over the past 20 years, HPV vaccines have been remarkably effective.

A report from the Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP) published today, which reviewed 274 studies over 20 years, finds that HPV vaccines reduce the risk of cervical cancer by 80% in girls who are vaccinated by age 16. 

Parents swayed by misinformation

Many parents get their information about HPV vaccines from social media. Felder urges them to turn to their primary care providers instead.

“I think that parents want to do the best for their children,” Felder said. “But we live in a time where it’s very hard,” given the huge amounts of misinformation about vaccines.

Researchers have found that about one in four posts about HPV on the social media site X contains misinformation. Audiences are six times more likely to share posts with misinformation than accurate ones, perhaps because sensational posts with false claims about non-existent vaccine injuries are more attention-grabbing.

I was glad I didn’t die, but losing my fertility honestly felt like death.

The new VIP report shows that HPV vaccines are very safe, with no increased risk of serious side effects or long-term medical problems.

Although opponents of vaccination often talk about the risks of childhood shots, Felder said she wants parents to realize there are risks to skipping the HPV shot, too.

More than 200,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with a cervical precancer each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Cervical cancer screenings allow doctors to detect and treat precancers early, before they become life threatening. More than 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and 4,000 die.

Although 78% of teens aged 13 to 17 have received at least one dose of HPV vaccines, only 63% have received all recommended doses of HPV vaccines, according to the CDC. 

“This is not something to play around with,” Felder said. “People are still dying from this mostly preventable disease.”

A long recovery

Although doctors cured Felder’s cancer, treatments were brutal.

If parents knew more about cervical cancer, Felder said, they might be more willing to vaccinate their children.

“You would never, ever want radiation burning your body from the inside out,” Felder said. “You would not want these things for yourself or your child.”

Ginny Marable, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer just before turning 31, notes that cervical cancer doesn’t discriminate. Some members of Cervivor were diagnosed with cervical cancer after having only one sexual partner.

Nine years after being treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, Marable said she is still healing emotionally from the experience nine years later.

“I went through such intense physical pain that I didn’t have a chance to really dive into the emotional pain that I was experiencing, and I’ve spent the last eight years dealing with that,” Marable said.

Marable underwent radiation five days a week for six weeks. The pain caused by radiation burns intensified as treatment went on.

“The side effects of radiation got worse and worse, to the point where I could hardly go to the bathroom without pain,” Marable said. “I didn’t want to drink water because I didn’t want to have to pee. It felt like the worst sunburn of your life.”

Radiation can cause scar tissue to form inside the vagina. In Marable’s case, radiation caused the tissue of her vagina to seal together, leaving her with only 1 centimeter of depth. “My body was destroyed by the treatment,” Marable said.

Although Marable underwent years of pelvic floor physical therapy and reconstructive surgery, her sex life has never been the same. Marable, who is married, said, “Intercourse is very different now. That was something that was taken away from me.”

Cervivor was a lifeline during this time, Marable said.

“Tamika saved my life, helping me navigate this terrible, terrible cancer,” Marable said. “She’s helped thousands of women.”

Turning a corner

The one bright side in her ordeal, Marable said, is that her medical team took care to preserve her fertility. Her surgeon moved her ovaries to prevent them from being damaged by radiation, which could have caused her to enter premature menopause.

Although Marable and her husband weren’t married yet, “we were serious about being together for the rest of our lives,” she said. The couple was able to create embryos through in vitro fertilization. Her insurance paid for much of the expense.

The couple found a surrogate, who gave birth to identical twin boys, who are now 5 years old. 

I went through such intense physical pain that I didn’t have a chance to really dive into the emotional pain that I was experiencing, and I’ve spent the last eight years dealing with that.

When Marable and her husband knew their family was complete, they decided to donate their unused embryos to Tamika Felder and her husband. 

“I felt like she would be such a deserving recipient of our embryos,” Marable said.

Through surrogacy, Felder and her husband were able to welcome a baby boy three years ago. Her son and Marable’s boys—though biologically brothers—view each other as cousins.

Both women plan to vaccinate their sons against HPV.

“I can’t imagine not protecting him from something that’s so preventable,” Felder said.

“My really son is the light of my life. I’m just tickled pink to be able to have this joy of a human in my life. When he wakes up, he says, ‘I love you, I love you.’ I never thought I would get that.”