HPV and Cervical Cancer Get Personal

Every year, HPV and cervical cancer affect the lives of thousands of women nationwide. Here, three women tell their story to MSN Health & Fitness.

Janice Barnes, 44

Janice Barnes fell in love with a military man, married him and gave him her virginity. Their marriage lasted for 18 years, and at its end, Barnes walked away with dear memories, two children and 12 strains of high-risk HPV. She’s at great risk for developing cervical cancer. 

Ten years ago, Barnes dodged uterine cancer but had a hysterectomy to remove her uterus. And though she’s had several sexual partners since divorcing, intimacy isn’t easy, she says—especially when you carry the heavy weight of an STD on your conscience. “Guys tend to be like, ‘We know you can’t have kids, so why should you use a condom?’ ”

Barnes says she never hesitates to tell them why. “I probably have that conversation a little earlier than the average person would,” she says. “But for me it’s got to be safe sex, and it’s got to be careful and non-negotiable. Sometimes that means a very sexless life, but I can live with that because I can sleep at night.”

Since her first abnormal Pap test at 28 (“I thought my life was over,” Barnes recalls), she has passed many hours on the computer, researching and chatting about life with HPV. “When something bad happens to you, you want to know why and where it came from and how it happened,” she says.

After a pause, Barnes says that sexual intimacy is a gift, and it should be treated as such. “Your body is the only thing you have, and when you find someone you want to be with, what are you going to give them? The special thing that you’re going to give them is an STD? Trust me,” says Barnes, “that’s a gift nobody wants to get.”