A Triad Area Woman Is Inspiring Others After Her Battle With Cervical Cancer
© Provided by WXII 12 Greensboro-Winston-Salem hillary zaken with her husbandJanuary is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and a Triad woman is sharing her own battle with the disease to encourage others.
Hillary Zaken was out with her husband and son when she got the call, and she says she remembers the world freezing when her doctor told her the news.
Sign up for our Newsletters"He said, 'You have cancer,'" she says. "You know, when someone says that, the ground sort of drops out from under you."
Zaken says she was diagnosed with stage one cervical cancer, also known as adenocarcinoma, in the spring of 2021. It's known for being an aggressive and fast-moving cancer, and she was in surgery by July.
"That summer, I was also supposed to get married," she says. "It was also my son's Bar Mitzvah. So you know, I had all these things planned that summer and cancer hadn't been part of my plans."
She says when she shared her diagnosis on Facebook, people responded unexpectedly.
"I heard from friends from around the world," she says. "Friends from different places in my lives who had cancer, who knew someone who had cancer, and who were so grateful that I just said it. They were so grateful that I had gone and said it because it allowed them to talk about it."
Now Zaken is cancer free, and she says she wants to encourage others to talk about cervical cancer, and she wants to inspire others to not let their diagnosis define them.
"These moments of tragedy and pain can stop us and make the world shift into black and white," she says, "but then you burst right back out and live in color. The way we talk about things is so important and so impactful. If I talk to one person who talks to another person who talks to another person, you're spreading the knowledge, and you're spreading the story, and you're destigmatizing just by having these casual conversations."
Zaken also wants to encourage others not to hesitate to seek medical help if something is wrong. She says early detection might just save your life.
READ THE FULL STORY:A cervical cancer survivor is inspiring others with the disease
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Special Scholarship Helps Cancer Survivor Pursue Her College Degree Dreams
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — A North Texas student diagnosed with cancer is continuing to pursue her dream of a college degree, in part thanks to a special scholarship program.
Rebecca Halbert is from Burleson, and the 22-year-old has always been active.
"I grew up playing every sport under the sun, pretty much," she said. "I cheered, swam, ran track and power lifted."
She came to Dallas Baptist University on a cheer scholarship.
Rebecca HalbertHalbert was eager to compete on the squad, but COVID interrupted her freshman year. While quarantining at home, her health started to decline.
"I lost a bunch of weight I didn't have to lose," Halbert said. "I developed some night sweats, just a lot of fatigue. I came back for my sophomore year of school to continue cheering, and my body just wasn't keeping up with the other athletes."
During a tournament in Oklahoma, she noticed a knot in her shoulder. It turned out to be Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a a cancer that starts in white blood cells.
Within a month of her diagnosis, she began a grueling schedule of chemotherapy and then radiation.
Rebecca Halbert"There were moments I'd talk to God and say I can't do this, I can't do another treatment," said Halbert.
But her faith, and the support of her family and friends, kept her going.
She even refused to let cancer derail her plans to simultaneously earn a bachelor's and Master's degree in business from DBU.
"My very first chemo treatment, I was taking my finals in the chemo room on my computer," Halbert said.
A grant from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation helped her continue her studies while battling cancer.
Rebecca HalbertRecognizing the significant financial burden families shoulder when undergoing childhood cancer treatments, the Northwestern Mutual Foundation dedicated $500,000 in grants to help fund tuition and other school fees for childhood cancer survivors and siblings of those affected by childhood cancer through its annual Childhood Cancer Survivor and Sibling Scholarship Programs.
"Childhood cancer robs children and their families of far too much, and that should not include the opportunity to pursue their dreams of a college degree," said Steve Radke, president of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation. "We are proud to help these brave children start the next chapter of their lives, as well as recognize and honor the challenges siblings endure."
Halbert is one of the company's 2022 recipients, receiving a $5,000 renewable scholarship (for a total of $10,000).
"The scholarship that they gave us really helped my parents focus on us recovering as a family and on paying medical bills instead of school bills," she said.
Now Halbert is cancer free and on track to graduate in May of 2023.
"[Cancer] wasn't an inconvenience," she said. "What He was doing in my life was really a blessing. It was many blessings, and I just want to encourage anyone, if you feel like where you're at in life is an inconvenience, or that you can't see what God is doing, to just be patient. Open your heart and your mind to whatever it is that God is looking to do."
Since it was started, Northwestern Mutual has given more than $1.5 million through its Childhood Cancer Scholarship Program.
Applications for the 2023 scholarship program are open now through February 1st, 2023. More information about the Childhood Cancer Survivor Scholarship Program and the Childhood Cancer Sibling Scholarship Program is available online.
Caroline VandergriffCervical Cancer Survivor Whose Insides Were Left ‘chargrilled’ By Treatment Issues Warning On Two Early Signs
A cancer survivor who experienced severe vaginal bleeding which felt like “somebody had just popped a balloon”, before she underwent gruelling treatment to remove a large vascular tumour in her cervix, wishes to give the positive message to other women that a cervical cancer diagnosis is “not a death sentence”.
Joanne Painter, who lives in Northampton, was diagnosed with stage 2 cervical cancer when she was 38 years old after noticing unusual vaginal discharge and then experiencing abnormal, heavy bleeding for several months.
The mother-of-two, who is the founder and managing director of a natural green burial ground and a humanist funeral celebrant, said the bleeding was so severe that, on occasions, it felt like “somebody had just popped a balloon or turned the tap on”.
The now 43-year-old said she was repeatedly told by doctors that they were not concerned and was initially misdiagnosed as having a cervical ectropion – when cells from inside the cervical canal grow onto the outside of the cervix – but Joanne knew her symptoms should not be ignored.
After pushing for a diagnosis, in February 2018, Joanne received the news she had cervical cancer and said she was “dumbfounded” – but now, as a survivor looking back on the last five years, Joanne wants to raise awareness of the importance of early detection and “remaining positive”.
“You know your body better than anyone and, if something’s not right, then don’t be fobbed off by a practitioner or a doctor, or whoever is saying ‘oh, it’s fine’… keep going and get screened and get vaccinated, if you can, and don’t take no for an answer,” Joanne said.
“Obviously, the sooner you can get a diagnosis, the better chances you are going to have.”
Cervical cancer is a cancer that is found anywhere in the cervix – the opening between the vagina and the womb – and, according to the charity Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, it currently kills two women in the UK every day.
A cervical screening, known as a smear test, checks the health of the cervix and is a test to help prevent cancer, but in Joanne’s case, the results from her previous smear tests were negative prior to her diagnosis.
After noticing unusual discharge at the age of 38, which she described as “very watery”, Joanne contacted her GP to arrange an appointment.
She said the doctor “wasn’t very concerned at all”, but just days later, she started to experience vaginal bleeding, which progressively worsened.
Joanne likened the bleeding to a “light period” at first and was initially diagnosed as having a cervical ectropion, but when she started to bleed through her sanitary pads to her clothing and was spending up to an hour on the toilet at times, she knew “this isn’t right”.
© Provided by The Independent (PA Real Life) 
© Provided by The Independent (PA Real Life)It became so severe that, during a trip to the theatre with friends, she said she “felt this ‘pop’ and there was blood gushing down (her) legs”.
On another occasion, during a trip to Australia, she bled “for nearly the whole 24-hour flight” and it “came through to the airplane seat”.
Joanne said: “The spotting became really heavy bleeding; I could sit on the toilet for 20 minutes at a time and it was like somebody had just popped a balloon or turned the tap on, and it was just, drip, drip, drip.
“That was when I started to think, ‘oh, this doesn’t seem right’, and at that time, I was feeling really, really tired.
“I had a four-year-old and a seven-year-old, I was working full time, so I just put the tiredness down to that…(but) obviously, I was losing quite a lot of blood, so that led me to go back to my doctor again.”
Joanne was referred to a genealogist at Northampton General Hospital, but her husband Neil, 48, a builder, took her to the hospital earlier, as she ended up bleeding through her clothing again while out for dinner.
She said doctors were initially dismissive of her symptoms once again, but after staying overnight to try to stop the bleeding, Joanne was told by a gynaecologist consultant the following morning: “I’m really sorry, this doesn’t look good.”
© Provided by The Independent (PA Real Life)She was informed she had cervical cancer and, after a biopsy had been taken and she underwent various scans and an MRI, it was revealed she had a 6cm vascular tumour in her cervix, which would require treatment rather than surgery to remove.
“I was totally and utterly in disbelief, to be honest… I remember just sitting there, just completely speechless,” Joanne said.
“I wasn’t upset particularly, I think it was just like, is this actually happening?
“Then, within about half an hour, a Macmillan nurse just appeared at the bottom of my bed and introduced herself, and I think that was the moment that it sunk in – the reality of, oh my God, I actually have a Macmillan nurse sitting at the end of my bed, that is not good news.”
Joanne explained that the news was even harder to hear as she had lost her dad to cancer nine years earlier, but despite her fears, she knew she had to stay positive.
“I was sitting there, thinking, my dad died of cancer, now they’re telling me I’ve potentially got cancer, and I’ve got a four-year-old and a seven-year-old, and I’ve got to get through this because I can’t not be there for my children,” Joanne explained.
“So very quickly, this overwhelming need to survive just came over me.”
© Provided by The Independent (PA Real Life)Joanne believes that her positive mindset was fundamental in helping her get through her treatment, which involved six weeks of chemoradiation followed by three weeks of brachytherapy – a type of internal radiation therapy, which Joanne said left her insides “black and chargrilled”.
The mum-of-two explained that she did not lose her hair, due to the type of chemotherapy she underwent, but she felt “dreadful” at times.
She said she experienced severe exhaustion, chronic diarrhoea, and felt “a bit hungover, like (she had) done 20 shots of tequila”, and even though she was “terrified” at times, she knew she had to push through the challenges she faced, especially for her children.
“You can’t dwell on it, you’ve just got to get on with it,” Joanne said.
“You never want (your children) to see you upset and you never want them thinking you’re that poorly, so you just crack on…
“I never felt like I needed any counselling, I didn’t want anybody to feel sorry for me; I didn’t want to ever be defined as ‘Jo who had cancer’, so I was very much like, just get on with this, get through it, it’s not that bad.”
Three months after her treatment had ended, Joanne went back to the hospital for a check-up and was given the “wonderful” news that the tumour had gone.
© Provided by The Independent (PA Real Life)Although Joanne said it took “a long time to recover” and described the after-effects of her treatments, such as going into menopause, as a “train crash”, she stressed the importance of having a good support network, exercising, and “being kind to yourself” during rehabilitation.
Joanne is also a “real believer in the law of attraction and putting it out to the universe”, and she said writing affirmations helped enormously.
“These things do take time, so people need to probably just know that (they’re) not going to bounce back and feel absolutely 100% afterwards and life go back to normal,” she said.
“I think there is a bit of a life adjustment and just accepting the new you; this is ‘the new me’ now, and I am different to what I was beforehand, but it’s not a bad thing, it’s just slightly different.”
Joanne has regular check-ups every few months and although she has had a “few wobbles over the years”, she wants to encourage other women who may have had a cervical cancer diagnosis to “try not to go down that fear tunnel of ‘this is a death sentence’,” adding: “You’ve got everything to live for.”
Cervical Cancer Prevention Week runs from January 23-29 and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust is launching its biggest ever campaign: #WeCan End Cervical Cancer, to work towards a day where cervical cancer is a thing of the past.
You can find out more by visiting the website here.
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