Gardasil will help protect my child's health.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Margie Kelly For The Register-Guard

I can still hear my midwife calling out, `It's a girl!' as she delivered my daughter, Grace, nearly seven years ago.

My husband and I had decided not to learn the baby's sex in advance. We thought about pregnancy as if it were a great mystery novel that shouldn't be spoiled by peeking at the climax before its time. Besides, we knew we would be happy with either a boy or girl.

`All I want is a healthy baby,' I would say to those who asked.

As with all parents, our child's health is still at the front of our minds. And so, after Grace is 11, we will take her to the doctor to receive a new vaccine called Gardasil, which will protect her from a widespread and deadly virus that is responsible for cancer, genital warts and precancerous lesions.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infected 20 million Americans in 2005. According to one expert, HPV is `as common as influenza.' Some HPV types produce few symptoms, but others can cause lasting damage.

Together, HPV16 and HPV18 are responsible for 70 percent of all cervical cancers in the United States. More than 25 percent of women who contract cervical cancer die within five years of diagnosis.

HPV6 and HPV11 are responsible for 90 percent of cases of genital warts, which can lead to serious problems in pregnancy and childbirth. HPV is also the leading cause of vaginal and vulval cancers, which have even lower overall survival rates than cervical cancer.

Grace's doctor will give her three shots of the vaccine Gardasil over the course of six months. It will provide long-term protection from HPV infection and, in turn, from the diseases and conditions the virus causes. Because the most reliable protection comes from injections before the onset of sexual experience, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends the vaccine for girls and women as young as 11 and through age 26.

The vaccine is not without controversy. It may be hard to obtain. The Washington Post reported recently that some insurance companies are only partially reimbursing for the vaccine, leading some doctors to refuse to offer it. Others argue that `decent women' won't need the vaccine, under the misinformed and dangerous belief that only promiscuous women get HPV. Of course, it takes only one infected partner to transmit the disease.

These controversies are beside the point. There is no debate that the vaccine will save lives. If used widely, it will save a great many lives. In 2006 alone, more than 9,700 U.S. women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 3,700 died from it. Gardasil is the only vaccine on the market that can prevent the disease. In clinical trials the vaccine has a 100 percent efficacy rate in preventing infection by HPV16 and HPV18.

Doctors should provide Gardasil, insurance companies should fully reimburse for it and women should be encouraged to use it.

I'm a pretty optimistic person, but there are days when I think the future might not be so bright. The global prognosis is dominated by global warming, water shortages, wars without end. But the development of a vaccine that can prevent so many cancers gives me hope that the future for my daughter can be, in some ways at least, brighter than the past.

On Mother's Day, I'll think back to the day I gave birth to Grace, and remember how excited I was to hold her in my arms for her first moments in this world. I cried with happiness - because she was healthy and she was a girl. I'll do whatever I can to help keep her healthy as she grows.

This Mother's Day, pledge to learn more about what you can do to protect your daughter from cervical cancer. One fewer cancer patient is a mother's gift to her child.

Margie Kelly of Eugene is a board member of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon.