February is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month!
Eva Peron, though mostly known today for the Broadway play Evita, or even the Madonna version of the song, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, was first lady of Argentina from 1946 until her untimely death of cancer in 1952. As February is Cervical Cancer Awareness month, I thought I’d highlight Ms. Peron as an example as to why we must educate ourselves in the prevention of this cancer.
The youngest of five children of Juan Duarte and Juana Ibarguren, María Eva Duarte was born on May 7, 1919, in the little
village of Los Toldos in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Following the death of her father, the family moved to the larger nearby town of Junín, where her mother ran a boarding house. At the age of sixteen, Evita, as she was often called, left high school after two years and went to Buenos Aires with the dream of becoming an actress. Lacking any training in the theater, she obtained a few small parts in motion pictures and on the radio. She was finally employed on a regular basis with one of the largest radio stations in Buenos Aires.
In 1943 Eva met Colonel Juan Perón, who had assumed the post of
secretary of labor and social welfare in the military government that had recently come to power. Eva developed a close relationship with the widowed Perón, who was beginning to organize the Argentine workers in support of his own bid for the presidency. Becoming Perón’s loyal political confidante and partner, she helped him increase his support among the masses. O n October 21, 1945, Eva and Juan Perón were married.
Following Perón’s election, Eva began to play an increasingly important role in the political affairs of the nation. During the
early months of the Perón administration she launched an active campaign for national women’s suffrage, which had been one of Perón’s campaign promises.
Because Eva came from a lower-class background, she identified with the members of the working classes and was strongly committed
to improving their lives. She devoted several hours every day to meeting with poor people and visiting hospitals, orphanages, and factories. She also supervised the newly created Ministry of Health, which built many new hospitals and established a successful program to fight different diseases.
In late 1950 or early 1951, it was evident to all
Evita was not well. She lost weight, became paler than usual, and had ankle swelling. She fainted at a public ceremony on August 23, 1951 and was hospitalized. Officially it was announced she had anemia,
but in fact she had advanced cervical cancer. Peron ordered a search for the world’s best cancer surgeon, and Dr.Pack from New York’s Sloan Kettering came to Buenos Aires and performed a radical hysterectomy, all without Evita’s knowledge. Election Day came while she was hospitalized, and photographs showed her casting her ballot, as this was the first time women voted in Argentina. Her course went downhill rapidly, and she was barely able to attend Peron’s inauguration for a second term. She died July
26, 1952, at the age of 33.
Eva Peron’s illness was quite consistent with the profile of cervical cancer. She was only slightly below the average age at
diagnosis, and she undoubtedly had early onset of sexual activity and multiple partners, the 2 best know risk factors. Peron’s first wife also died of cervical cancer at an early age, suggesting that he himself might have been the source of an exceptionally aggressive form of the HPV virus (the known cause of cervical cancer).
Eva’s influence on her country and the world was
profound and shows no sign of abating, more than half a century after her death. She represented a powerful example of how a woman of modest origins can rise to the highest seat of power, and have profound and lasting influence. Her record in improving the status of women is virtually unassailable. But Eva Peron also stands as a prominent representative of the millions of women who have fallen victim to cervical cancer over the years.
Patient education and screening for cervical precancer and cancer (pap smears) were just beginning at the time of Evita’s illness. Since then, cervical cancer is one of the success stories in the conquest of cancer, with the incidence steadily declining in developing countries. Today, we possess the ability to reduce, and perhaps in the near future even eliminate, this common cause of death and disability in women. Education is important. Unfortunately there are
still large segments of the female population living where necessary resources are lacking, and these women still face the dim prospect of the disease and death Eva experienced.
Read more:
2) Eva
Peron: Charisma, Controversy and Cervical Cancer by Roy M. Pitkin, ACOG
clinical review Nov-Dec 2004
3) Eva Perón
Biography – family, children, name, death, history, wife, school, mother,
information, born, house http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Per-n-Eva.html#b#ixzz1jqdgxoxP
