Athena Lamnisos recently joined The Eve Appeal as the new CEO; she shares her ambitions for the future of women’s cancers.
‘Can you say the word vagina without being embarrassed?’
This was one of the questions I was asked in my interview for CEO of The Eve Appeal. Not a standard interview question I know, but it made total sense when becoming the head of the UK’s only gynaecological cancer research charity. I’m aware that many women, including some of my friends and family, might have hesitated when asked that question. I know just how vital it is to raise awareness and understanding of these cancers in order to remove all the stigma and embarrassment that surrounds them.
A dictionary definition of vagina is very straightforward: ‘the part of a woman’s body that connects her outer sex organs to her womb’ – it’s an anatomical term, and should be used without embarrassment or shame. At The Eve Appeal we know that this is far from being the case. Women are not only embarrassed to talk about gynaecological symptoms, some age groups are completely lacking in information about gynaecological issues. Our work to increase awareness of the symptoms of all five gynaecological cancers (womb, ovarian, cervical, vulval and vaginal) and overcome the stigma that surrounds talking about them will save women’s lives.
I am ambitious for a future where no woman delays seeing her GP due to the intimate nature of her symptoms. A future where women of all ages know about the early signs and symptoms of all five gynaecological cancers and know where to go for more information. At The Eve Appeal we encourage all women to listen to their bodies, look out for any changes and see their doctor if something does not feel right. I’m outraged that women are literally dying from embarrassment.
One thing is very clear to me – gynaecological cancers don’t discriminate; they can affect women at any age. Nearly 20,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with a gynaecological cancer and almost 8,000 die within five years.
However so many of these deaths are potentially preventable if the cancer is detected earlier on. This is why The Eve Appeal focuses on funding medical research into screening and risk prediction programmes for gynaecological cancers. We know what will make the most difference and save lives is detecting these cancers earlier.
Here in the UK we are fortunate to have a cervical screening programme. This can detect abnormal cells in the cervix, which could be an early sign of cancer, and has been estimated to save 5,000 women a year. If we could develop a similar programme for all gynaecological cancers just imagine how many more mothers, daughters and sisters we could save.
I am proud to be part of The Eve Appeal and ambitious to improve awareness and early detection of gynaecological cancers for women today and women in the future. Our research and public awareness programme reflects that ambition. Please donate so that more women are aware of these too-little talked about cancers and we can continue to fund our life-saving medical research. Earlier detection will make all the difference.