We kid you not when we say that Magic 89.9 DJ Andi Manzano has one of the sweetest faces in the business.We caught up with her a week before she got married to PR & advertising man GP Reyes last Nov.13, and it was here where we got to know certain facets of her life. Like how she met her husband through Facebook (because she wouldn’t give her number) and how her family recently fought a valiant battle against her mom’s cervical cancer.
So it’s understandable that Andi has now become the spokesperson in the X Means Love campaign launched by GlaxoSmithKline and Healthway Medical. This aims to increase awareness in preventing cancer of the cervix through vaccination against HPV or the human papilloma virus which is one of those causing this type of cancer.
At the campaign’s launch program recently, Andi is shown with another beauty, Kim Jones, who is also slated to be married to actor Jericho Rosales soon.
“I decided to do this advocacy because early this year my mom was diagnosed with cervical cancer. It took us all by surprise and it was truthfully a very difficult time in our lives. She went through all the motions from the chemo to radiation treatments and by the grace of God, she’s been cured and is in remission,” Andi revealed.
The incidence of cervical cancer starts rising steeply at age 30. It is highest in women aged 40-55 years old. Women who are diagnosed with this cancer at a late stage die early, at the time when their children need their care and guidance the most. These women are at the peak of their careers and maybe just
starting to enjoy life.
Cervical cancer can be prevented through screening and vaccination. Screening for HPV-induced changes in the cervix can be done by either using a Papanicolaou (Pap) test or HPV DNA test, or both. In low-resource settings, visual inspection with acetic acid is used to identify cervical lesions, which can be immediately treated by cryotherapy.
HPV vaccines are safe and effective. Experts suggest that the financial cost of preventing cervical cancer through screening and vaccination could be more than 20 times cheaper than the cost of treatment. Treatment could run up to half a million pesos while cost of vaccination may only range between PHP 8,000 to 17,000 depending on the type of vaccine and type of hospital or clinic where the vaccination and screening are availed.
“Life is fleeting. We really need to take care of our bodies and must not wait for pains and aches to manifest before doing something. Prevention is the best treatment and early detection can save lives,” Andi noted. “We must be aggressive in trying to maintain our health and eat the right food, take the proper vitamins and medicines and live a healthy life with exercise. Also,regular checkups are a must!”
There are usually no symptoms with abnormal cells (in their pre-cancerous state) and sometimes none with early stage cervical cancer either.