WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News: Talking About Cervical Cancer with SAS
Organizers of a Fox Valley foundation want to raise awareness of a deadly disease many women face but few talk about.
Sybil Ann Seehawer had sass.
"She could be a little sassy. She was fun, full of life, always looking for the next adventure and always wanting to drag everybody along with her," said Kellie Delveaux, co-founder of a group called the SAS Cervical Cancer Foundation.
Seehawer's friends say she was more than just fun -- she was also a single mother of two and a web designer.
She lost her life to cervical cancer in 2008 at age 30.
"One of the things she wanted to do was help other women the way her friends had come forward and helped her," Delveaux said.
The founders of the SAS Cervical Cancer Foundation -- S.A.S. for Sybil Ann Seehawer -- have that mission in mind.
One of the ways they want to help women is to let them know it's OK to talk about cervical cancer.
"Kind of a taboo subject, many think, so we find it interesting when we go to events and people see our big sign that says SAS Cervical Cancer Foundation, it creates this open feeling," foundation member Tammi Albrecht said.
SAS members say it's vital for women to get annual pap tests at their doctor's -- one of the best ways to screen for the human papilloma virus, often a precursor to cervical cancer.
More than 4,000 women die each year from cervical cancer in the U.S. Sybil's friends say they want that number to be zero.
"It just helps to know that we haven't forgotten her and that some good can come out of what happened to her if we can help even a few women," Delveaux said.
