MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Cervix cancer is known as the "silent killer" and annually claims approximately 30% more victims than the much published breast cancer!

According to Dr Douwe Vellema, well-known gynecologist from George, a lot of time and money is being spent worldwide on increasing awareness and screening for breast cancer, yet cancer of the cervix is an even more common and deadlier cancer that silently spreads amongst women of all walks of life, young and old, black or white, rich and poor.

Dr Vellema was one of the guest speakers at the Women's Day celebrations at the Langeberg Mall on Friday.
He shared the floor with Ms Amanda Theron from Sanlam and Ms Corrie Meyer, the manager of Placecol in the Mall.
This type of cancer has the second highest fatalities, only beaten by cancer of the prostate, which is the number one killer in South Africa.

Cancer of the cervix, also known as the 'mouth of the womb', is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV)."
In South Africa there are far more women dying from cervical cancer every year than breast cancer, yet there is still no 'cervix cancer awareness month' like we have for breast cancer awareness in October" he added.

According to Vellema, gynecologists believe it is the perfect cancer. "By that we mean that we know exactly how it happens, how it starts off, how the disease progress before it becomes a cancer.

For years we have been able to diagnose the precursors to this terrible disease by doing regular pap smears and now we have gone one step further; we have a vaccine that can prevent this disease in almost 100% of cases."

He called upon women to rather prevent than to try and cure. "Despite this discovery of truly epic proportions, most women remain blissfully unaware of what can be done to protect themselves and their daughters and granddaughters from this deadly disease!" he said and added that health was the most precious gift anyone can get.

"Treasure and look after life. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back again," he said. After Dr Vellema's talk the ladies were informed about wills, policies and the different products available to make up a healthy financial portfolio. Ms Amanda Theron, who is one of Sanlam's top agents, explained the pitfalls after a divorce and gave some valuable and easy to apply tips.

Then followed a talk on beauty products by the manager, Ms Corrie Meyer of Placecol in the Mall.
One lucky lady was chosen to be treated to a soft laser treatment. Marie Cronje of Fraai-Uitsig told the other ladies that it "felt as if she had been on a holiday" after her treatment.

Each lady received a goody bag filled with goodies from Edgars, Sanlam, Placecol and GSK put together by Ms Gail Lesch-van den Berg and the ladies were also treated to delicious tea and scrumptious eats supplied by Het Deegmeisje and La Ba Baguette Restaurant.


Some of the prizewinners at the Langeberg Mall Women's Day celebrations were (from left): Doreen Windt (from George), Marietjie Tredoux (Mossel Bay), Joan Reder (Hartenbos) speaker Amanda Theron from Sanlam, Erna Joubert (George) and Alana Gouw (Hartenbos).

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS: DENISE LLOYD