Cervivor: How Tracy Jimenez is Raising Awareness

Tracy Jimenez began noticing uncomfortable changes in her body at 45. She was experiencing irregular periods, pain during intercourse, and constant pain in her low back and legs. She didn’t have health insurance at the time and did not understand the importance of annual exams.

She lived with this discomfort for a long time until finally deciding to go to the ER when the pain became worse. Tracy was informed by the ER staff that her pain was sciatica, and to treat it with ice and heat. They did not perform a pelvic exam. They did not ask about her reproductive health history. Like so many doctors, they took one look at Tracy and decided what was wrong with her, rather than doing the work to find the cause of her pain. When doctors do this, it is negligent, dismissive, unprofessional, and potentially life-threatening.

The day after Tracy’s 46th birthday, she returned to the ER experiencing concerning symptoms. This time, they took her in for a CAT scan. They found the root of her pain, and it was not sciatica. It was an eight-cenitmeter tumor on her cervix.

She left the hospital with her referral in hand, absolutely terrified. She knew her life was at risk and had changed forever. She didn’t know anything about HPV or Cervical Cancer. She spent the next six months undergoing intensive treatment, doing everything she could despite the horrible pain and side effects. Her hard work paid off: in August 2017, she was cancer-free!

Tracy had been working as a coordinator for a large software company, but her diagnosis threw a wrench in her career, as it does for so many. Her focus and energy had to shift towards healing. In doing so, she has become a major advocate for raising awareness about HPV, cervical cancer, and other cancers HPV can cause.

Her advice? Keep up with all of your annual exams. Educate yourselves on what could be causing your pain, and discuss this with your doctor. Do not assume doctors know your body better than you do because they don’t, and they are so often wrong. Ask questions. You have a say in your healthcare; you have a say in what is done to you; you have a say in your testing and treatments. We have to speak out and realize that doctors do not have more control over our health than we do. We have the right to our health more than we realize.

Tracy mentioned that she wishes she had been educated about Cervical Cancer prior to her diagnosis. I completely understand why she feels this way—she wishes she would have known exactly what was happening to her and what she could have to make it better. I want to emphasize that it is not our job to be an expert in our illnesses prior to diagnosis. That is the doctor’s job.

However, the healthcare system continually dismisses the pain of women. This occurs constantly, to the point where we have to be more educated about potential causes and illnesses than the doctors we speak to if we want any chance of receiving treatment, let alone being taken seriously. This is unacceptable, and I hope to see a day where this is no longer our reality. Raising awareness is the first step.

Tracy is not only a Cervical Cancer survivor. She is a single mother of three amazing children, a grandmother of six grandsons, and an advocate for Immunize Colorado. She is part of an amazing group of women who are all cervical cancer survivors called Cervivor.

For more information on how to support and raise awareness for those suffering from cervical cancer, please visit here.

Photo courtesy of Tracy Jimenez