Maria Franklin

2019 Cervivor Champion Maria Franklin infuses her work with passion & fun

Cervical cancer survivor Maria Franklin, recipient of the 2019 Cervivor Champion Award, is BUSY – during Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and all year long!

She embodies everything Cervivor and the “Cervivor Spark” stands for. Informed. Empowered. Alive.

“Ending cervical cancer is my job, It’s OUR job. We have to do it because we have to honor what we went through, and also because of the people we have lost.”

She mentors other cervical cancer survivors. She hosts MeetUps. She fundraises – via social media, in her community, wherever and whenever she can. She runs the Cervivor Español Facebook group. She helped organize and co-facilitate a Spanish-language Cervivor School in Puerto Rico. She leads initiatives to help ensure that cervical cancer screening, vaccination and prevention messages reach the Latina community in the U.S., and in Central and South America.

Maria, and fellow Latina Cervivor Karla

She even used her birthday as an opportunity for education and fundraising by creating a campaign and rallying her friends to “Help celebrate my 48th birthday by joining me in walking, running or cycling a total of 48 miles during the month of October!” #48MilesToEndCervicalCancer

She embodies support and advocacy. She brings her passion to everything she does. She is making her survivorship count, day in and day out. Mobilizing. Advocating. Educating.

Initially diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1999, Maria is a 20+ year survivor who started advocating for cervical cancer prevention and helping to forge a cervical cancer community of women “before there was social media” and before there was Cervivor. She has never slowed down.

Maria has a particularly busy January planned to support and harness Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in her home state of Wisconsin. She’s planned:

  • A “proclamation” from the Governor’s office to officially recognize the importance of January as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in Wisconsin.
  • Interviews with Telemundo Wisconsin and radio stations in Puerto Rico to talk about cervical cancer awareness and prevention
  • “Teal & White Days” at work
  • A patient reception for Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, in partnership with a local  gynecologic oncology clinic
  • A Cervivor MeetUp to connect in-person with women in her community who are battling cervical cancer or dealing with the after-effects

“Every single one of us has to do our part. We have to do our part so we can make this a reality for the next generation. Nobody else should have to go through what we went through,” says Maria.

What is your part? What are you doing over CCAM in your local community?

Let us know in the comments below. We’d love to feature you and your work on our blog, if you are interested!

Watch Maria’s powerful Cervivor Champion Award acceptance speech at the 2019 Cervivor School awards ceremony, or read her remarks below.

Maria’s Award Acceptance Speech:

I truly believe in Cervivor. I truly believe in what we do here. I know we can end cervical cancer. This is why we are here. Every single one of us has to do our part. We have to do our part so we can make this a reality for the next generation. Nobody else should have to go through what we went through.

The story is different for every single one of us. It wasn’t easy for any of us. No one else should have to go through what we went through. So we are here today to take this responsibility seriously. Because ending cervical cancer is our job. We have to do it because we have to honor what we went through, and also because of the people we have lost.

Today when you leave here [Cervivor School], you start your work and you start your mission. And if and when you’re feeling you may be a little burnt out, you reach out to one of us and we will help you. We will support you. Because we need to do this for the next generation!

Thanks, Maria, for all that you do for Cervivor, for women today and for the next generation who  – with your help – may live in a world free from cervical cancer.

Maria Franklin is a 20-year cervical cancer survivor who heads Cervivor’s Latina advocacy efforts.

Read her original Cervivor story and her blog post reflecting on 21 years post-cancer.

Watch her story and advice on Cervivor TV.

48 Birthdays, 21 Post Cancer

Every year, as my birthday approaches, I go into reflection mode and start thinking about life. Life as it was. Life as it is. Life that almost wasn’t.

My life was forever altered by a diagnosis of cervical cancer at the age of 27. The days following the diagnosis were rough. Within a month of my diagnosis I landed in the hospital with shortness of breath and blood counts so low I needed my first blood transfusion. I spent exactly 30 days in the hospital, not sure if I was coming out alive. If you were around me at that time, you know how terrifying this period was, you know that my coming out of that hospital alive was nothing but a miracle (those were my pneumologist’s actual words). So here I am, celebrating #48 (or the 21st birthday I get to celebrate post diagnosis). 

Survival… Life after cancer… This is something that doesn’t happen to many of the women diagnosed with cervical cancer. Within the last year my Cervivor community lost 4 beautiful women in the prime of their lives as a consequence of cervical cancer. In the USA, where approximately 13,000 women are diagnosed with cancer in the last year, 4,200 women will die due to this cancer. Some people may look at these numbers and think they are small (I’ve been told that before); well let me tell you this: These numbers matter. These numbers matter to the women diagnosed with cancer, hoping they are on the right side of this statistics. These numbers matter to the families of the women who die each year, to the young children that will grow up without their mom… These numbers matter to those of us who survive this disease, because we know how close we cut it, how nerve wracking every follow up is, because the cancer may be gone, but the damage it did to our bodies is permanent (think of infertility, ostomies, lymphedema, neuropathy, bladder problems, just to mention a few). Most importantly, these numbers matter because we can change them. We can change the statistics because we have the means to prevent cervical cancer: The HPV vaccination is the #1 way to prevent cervical cancer. Plain and simple. A vaccine can prevent cervical cancer. I don’t think it can be any easier than that. 

We can literally protect our next generations from cancer-causing HPV strains by simply vaccinating our children (as early as 9yrs. old). It is an important vaccine because it would protect them from the high risk strains that are linked to cervical cancer (and cancer of the vulva, vagina, anus, penis, oropharyngeal (back of the throat). Cervical cancer will be like polio; gone, a thing of the past. I would love to see cervical cancer disappear and I believe that is possible with this vaccine. 

So each year, around this time, that sense of duty to those who did not make it demands that I tell you to vaccinate your children. That 27 yr. old Maria, terrified at hearing the news that would change her life forever demands that I tell you to vaccinate your children. It is imperative that you do because this is the one cancer we can basically eradicate. Every now and then I see these prayer chains pop up in social media asking you to share a prayer to find a cure for cancer; well, we now have a vaccination that can prevent a cancer and that is an answered prayer.

Celebrate my 48th birthday with me by scheduling your well-woman exam and vaccinating your children against HPV. Maria Franklin is a 20-year cervical cancer survivor who is also a part of Cervivor Leadership, and heads our Latina advocacy efforts. She was awarded our 2019 Cervivor Champion Award. Watch her story here.