{"id":249522,"date":"2019-09-27T02:22:58","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T02:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/woman-who-was-told-untreatable-cancer-would-kill-her-within-a-year-is-thriving-two-years-later\/"},"modified":"2019-09-27T02:22:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T02:22:58","slug":"woman-who-was-told-untreatable-cancer-would-kill-her-within-a-year-is-thriving-two-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/woman-who-was-told-untreatable-cancer-would-kill-her-within-a-year-is-thriving-two-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman who was told ‘untreatable’ cancer would kill her within a year is thriving two years later"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Massachusetts woman who was told her cervical cancer was untreatable and that it would kill her within a year is still thriving two years later.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2012, when Lauren Lopez was 24, she visited her gynecologist for an annual check-up when abnormal cells were found during her Pap test.<\/p>\n

The cells were cancerous but after two cone knife biopsies, which removes tissue from the cervix, she was told she was cancer-free, reported TODAY<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2017, at age 30, Lopez was told that her cancer had returned. She was told it was incurable and that she had six months to a year to live.<\/p>\n

Two years later, the 32-year-old yoga teacher from Westford said she chooses to remain positive and that she finds something to be grateful for every day.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren \"Lauren <\/p>\n

Lauren Lopez, 32, from Westford, Massachusetts, was first diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2012 after abnormal cancerous cells were found in her cervix. Pictured: Lopez in the hospital<\/p>\n

\"After \"After \"She \"She <\/p>\n

After two cone knife biopsies, which removes tissue from the cervix, Lopez was told she was cancer-free. She said she didn’t know much about HPV, the infection that caused her cancer. Pictured, left and right: Lopez with her husband<\/p>\n

Lopez told TODAY she knew about most sexually transmitted infections (STIs) but not HPV, which led to her cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

HPV, short for Human papillomavirus, is the most common STI in the US, affecting around 79 million people.<\/p>\n

It has been linked to numerous cancers – including prostate, throat, head and neck, rectum and cervical cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the HPV vaccine was introduced in 2006, 79 countries and territories have implemented publicly funded national HPV vaccination programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the US, the vaccine is offered in two or three doses over the course of six months to girls who are between ages 11 and 12, with a catch-up series recommended no later than age 26.\u00a0<\/p>\n