The doctors told me I had cancer. My first question was “am I going to die?”

A mum-of-one diagnosed with cancer has opened up about her heartbreaking decision to give up the chance of having any more children. Kara Trippass, 40, from Coventry, was told she had cervical cancer in 2015 and had her cervix removed three weeks later. She says the disease could have been prevented if she’d had the HPV vaccine as a teenager – a jab that’s now being offered following research proving its value.

And Kara supports Cancer Research UK’s Turning Point for Cancer campaign, which aims for greater access to vaccination, as well as increased screening and prevention activities. She said: “When I was told I had cancer, all I wanted to know was that I was going to die. My daughter was only nine and I was a single parent, so my main concern was for her. My answer was to take the problem was the cervix, I told the doctor, I don’t want chemotherapy or radiotherapy, I want you to take my cervix.

“I went in blindfolded, I had never been operated before. I couldn’t stop crying (after that), I couldn’t understand why. A nurse said, “I took your baby bits, like you had. a child, but you don’t have a child to hold. I raised all those hormones where you have a baby, but you don’t have anything to hold.”

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Kara, who is a support worker for young people with learning difficulties, had the cancer detected through cervical screening. After decades of research, the HPV vaccination program was introduced for girls aged 12-13 in England in 2008. For boys, it is available from 2019. Too late for Kara, but her daughter, now aged 18 years old, received the vaccine at school. However, data shows that uptake – as well as cervical screening – has declined in recent years.

This is something that Cancer Tipping Point aims to reverse. Kara, now married with a 12-year-old stepson, said: “The HPV vaccine is vitally important. If I had gotten the vaccine, I could have had more children because my chances of getting cervical cancer would have been. had been lower and I would not have chosen to have my cervix removed.

“My daughter is now 18 and I have always explained to her the importance of the vaccine as well as the cervical screening.

“Thanks to research, more and more people are being saved and living longer lives. And for that I am grateful.”

Claire Knight, from Cancer Research UK, said: “We are grateful to Kara for shining a light on the huge advances in cervical cancer that are saving and improving lives right now and why we must not lose momentum.

“Eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem in our lifetime is possible with continued access to vaccination and screening for all.

“The new government must ensure that both programs in England are adequately resourced and tackle the health inequalities that mean cervical cancer rates are higher in people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Around 300 people in the West Midlands are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. We want to achieve a future where almost no one develops cervical cancer”.

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