HONEST TO A FAULT? –
April 11, 2026 – “When I tell people I have anal cancer, I’m like, ‘It is what it is,’ ”
Eileen McGill Fox said while speaking to the Tampa Bay Times. “Let’s talk about vulvas and anuses and cervixes. Let’s remove the stigma and the shadow language for dealing with it. She learned that her husband had cheated on her — and it led to a years-long challenging journey with multiple cancers.
Fox immediately visited her health care clinic for an STI screening and was relieved to learn that she tested negative for syphilis, gonorrhea and HIV.
However, a year later, during a routine Pap smear, Fox found out she had human papillomavirus (HPV), an STI that is not screened for in basic STI exams. The virus put her at high risk for cancers of the cervix, anus, vulva, vagina and throat. Fox was diagnosed with vulvar cancer in February 2019, then cervical cancer soon after, and she was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2023.
Fox also learned that HPV, and likely her later cancers, were preventable with the HPV vaccine, which protects against the types of HPV that cause the majority of HPV-related cancers, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
