Cervical cancer surviving sisters warn others not to make the same mistake

Alrita Groenewald looks at her eight-year-old daughter Mila with joy every day.

It’s hard to believe that after giving birth to her in 2015, Alrita was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer that left her with a less than 30% chance of survival. 

As if that was not enough, while still dealing with her own cancer diagnosis, her older sister Tessa Supra, 52, was also diagnosed with cervical cancer in the same year, which resulted in a hysterectomy.   

“Not only did the treatment ravage my body, but cancer can wreak havoc with your mind too. I found myself in a black hole,” said Groenewald, 47. 

She barely remembers the first few months of Mila’s life. 

The sisters from Pretoria have turned their difficult journey, and subsequent victory over cancer, into an advocacy campaign encouraging women to go for early cancer screening.

While they regret not having regular pap smears to screen for this form of cancer much earlier, their advocacy work warns others not to make the same mistake. September is commemorated in the country as cervical cancer awareness month. 

Groenewald said: “I felt absolutely fine, so for nearly eight years I did not go for gynaecological examinations. For years I did not realise the importance of having a pap smear to detect precancerous cell growth. Now I ask the women in my life every year if they’ve been for their check up and I get angry with them if they haven’t because cervical cancer can be prevented.” 

Though she was cancer-free within three months of treatment, her left kidney had suffered irreparable damage and had to be removed.

Each year Groenewald goes for cancer screening and two of her older children are already vaccinated against HPV, while Mila is due for vaccination in April when she turns nine. 

For Supra, who has been in remission since 2015, the memory of that fateful call about cervical cancer keeps her extra-vigilant.

“I do advocacy in my family circles and tell new acquaintances about our experience. It is hard for people who have never had cancer to truly understand and absorb the urgency of screening and prevention until you get that phone call ... that call that will never stop sending shivers down your spine. The memory of that call is now my watchdog.” 

The property practitioner admits that she only learnt about the development of cervical cancer from her oncologist, when it was too late to prevent it. 

“My oncologist says it takes more than 10 years for cervical cancer to develop. It’s very important that you don’t get lulled into thinking that you’re okay and skip appointments. If you leave it, you’ll end up where we did, and that’s an unnecessary journey to take,” she said. 

“I will not waste my second chance. I know the power of preventive check-ups now. I will not ever take it lightly again.”

Further tests revealed that the cancer had progressed to stage 3B (the cancer having grown into the walls of the pelvis and blocking one or both ureters, causing kidney problems). 

“I was so shocked. I thought, how can I be given the miracle of a newborn baby girl and then find myself on death’s doorstep?”

While Groenewald was receiving cancer treatment and fighting for her life, four months later Supra was also diagnosed with cervical cancer. She chose to silently carry the burden of her diagnosis, sharing it only with her husband and daughter. On her birthday on August 20 2015, she had a hysterectomy. 

“We only shared my cancer news with everyone else when the final lab results arrived after the hysterectomy. That took eight weeks.” 

Dr Noluthando Nematswerani, chief clinical officer at Discovery Health, said while on exposure to HPV, the body’s immune system will prevent the virus from doing harm, but there is a slight chance that the HPV survives in the body and causes some cervical cells to become cancer cells. Smoking tobacco, a weakened immune system, sexually transmitted infections and increasing number of sexual partners are risks factors that can lead to cervical cancer.

I thought, how can I be given the miracle of a newborn baby girl and then find myself on death’s doorstep?

—  Alrita Groenewald

According to the country’s largest medical scheme, Discovery Health, records show that between 2019 and 2022, claims for cervical cancer treatment increased by 5.8%.

In 2022, more than 100 Discovery Health members were diagnosed with cervical cancer. 

Even though numbers for cervical cancer is on the increase, the scheme said the Covid-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, seriously disrupted cervical cancer screening tests, meaning cervical cancers detected in the future may be at an advanced stage compared to the pre-Covid-19 era. 

Mainly caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), cervical cancer remains the deadliest form of cancer among women in SA, killing between 3,000 and 3,500 women every year. About 6,000 women are diagnosed with it annually and HPV has been singled out as a major contributor to the high number of cervical cancer deaths in the country. 

Groenewald, who has been cancer-free for eight years, remembers vividly how her journey with this aggressive cancer started. 

The mother of three and marketing specialist was exactly six months pregnant when she felt excruciating back pain. But it was four days after she gave birth in April 2015, after she collapsed, that everything made sense. After agreeing to an exploratory surgery, she woke up to the news that a biopsy had revealed stage 2B cervical cancer. This stage is when cancer has spread from the cervix to the tissue around the uterus. 

Discovery Health medical scheme data shows that scheme members as young as 25 are being diagnosed with cervical cancer. 

“Cervical cancer is very prevalent in South Africa and claims the lives of more than 3,000 women in the country each year. It is tragic that so many women die from cervical cancer because it is a highly preventable disease and treatment is very effective,” said Nematwerani. 

It is recommended that women, from the age of 25, have a pap smear once every three years or an HPV test once every five years. 

“Those that have a high risk of cervical cancer such as people living with HIV should have an annual pap smear or HPV screening every three years. Early detection allows for early intervention, lowering the complications related to late diagnosis and improving the outcomes of treatment,” said Nematwerani.