There is a new test that can identify potentially serious problems much earlier than the standard Pap smear, according to a recent large Danish study.

Think about this:

A new HPV test effectively checks women 40 and older for the virus that causes cervical cancer. The women who carry the virus are at significant risk for the disease and can truly benefit from this test. Women younger than 40 can still contract the virus but it tends to come and go and isn't as likely to lead to cancer. These under-40 women are sill better off receiving the standard Pap test, say researchers.

Source: Good Housekeeping, May 2007

I just finished reading the words of Mark Raymond Clements -- and the words of his wife, Marianne, written when Mark was too ill to comment. I am overcome and overwhelmed with emotion because each string of sentences filling the pages of the Clements family homepage has touched me, inspired me, and saddened me all at the same time.

Clements was diagnosed in October 2005 with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer of the bile duct normally found in people in their 70s.

"There is no known cure," writes Clements. "It does not respond well to chemotherapy. It is fast moving."

And fast moving it was. Surgery -- rarely a good option for this cancer -- was attempted but without success.

"After they opened him up, they discovered that the cancer had just spread too far," Marianne writes. "They closed him back up."

Chemotherapy came next and while there were some hopeful moments -- "overall distribution of the disease has decreased" -- the overwhelming course of Clement's disease continued on a fast track. And by June 2006, Clements realized, "the cruel reality of CANCER hits like a brick wall," when a CT scan revealed the presence of as many as 20 new tumors in his liver.

The Clements family never abandoned hope and were steadfast in their faith as cancer continued to dominate their lives. In October -- one year after diagnosis -- when Marianne believed doctors were sending a let's make you as comfortable as we can message, the family began pursuing alternative methods. But by December, when it had become clear treatment of any kind would no longer help, Mark Clements was welcomed by the loving arms of hospice -- where he remained until he passed away on January, 19, 2007. He was 40 years old.

On the very day of her husband's death, Marianne writes, "I know I am not alone in feeling complete anguish at this time. I know it will lessen over time. I know I will not understand 'why' until I'm with him again, but what I do know is that Mark loved me. He loved his children. He loved his family and friends. He will be waiting for me with our loving Father in Heaven. And we will be together again. Our Father in Heaven is aware of our pain and will comfort us still as he has through this past year."

And these are just some of the words that have has touched me, inspired me, and saddened me all at the same time.

In the United States, mammograms are not recommended for women under the age of 40. Other then an annual check-up and a monthly self breast exam, young women with no family history of breast cancer have no medical tools available for preventing and detecting the disease. But no woman is immune to this disease -- and being female is the single most important risk factor for diagnosis. And young women do get breast cancer. I did. And so did Sharon Rutherford, a 36-year-old Ulster woman who was diagnosed in December.

Rutherford is urging health officials to lower the age for screening in Northern Ireland -- where routine breast screening programs are reserved for women between the ages of 50 and 64. Rutherford says this is inadequate as there is an "absolutely chronic" number of younger women suffering from breast cancer.

Although there is a reduced-age screening program that monitors women beginning at age 40, Rutherford would like to see the screening age reduced to 30. Until then, she is educating women about how they can be vigilant about their own care. She urges women to report to doctors anything that just doesn't feel right. And because doctors may excuse symptoms because women are "too young" for breast cancer -- that's what doctors told her -- women must aggressively pursue medical care. Rutherford kept pursuing the thickening she felt in her breast -- and eventually she was referred for screening.

Rutherford has had a partial mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment. And she is now active in the Ulster Cancer Foundation's new support group -- specifically for women under the age of 40.

A new study reveals that women who received childhood cancer treatment may enter menopause much earlier than women who are not childhood cancer survivors. Siblings were studied -- 2,800 women who did receive treatment and 1,000 sisters of cancer survivors who did not. Women who underwent ovary-removing surgery were excluded from the study -- and the study then found that eight percent of cancer survivors experienced early menopause and less than one percent of the sisters experienced the same phenomenon. The risk was highest -- 30 percent -- for those who once received radiation to the lower abdomen and who also received certain chemotherapy agents, such as cyclophosphamide. Researchers say that 30 percent may be an underestimate, however, because the study included mostly women who had not yet reached age 40. The number of childhood cancer survivors over age 40 entering early menopause is still unclear. What is clear are the unfortunate consequences of this finding that could affect family planning, middle age health, thinning bones, other problems associated with menopause.

There has been a great increase during the past 10 years in the number of women receiving mammograms in Florida. But shockingly, almost one million Florida women over the age of 40 have still not ever received mammograms. So the American Cancer Society has teamed with the Medical Quality Assurance Inc. -- and they have co-published a guide to help these women locate a mammography center that meets their needs. This guide is sorted by city and is available on the American Cancer Society website for quick and easy access.

I can only imagine how the numbers stack up in consideration of all states -- and not just Florida. I can only imagine why these one million women in my state alone have not reported for this critical test --perhaps reasons stem from lack of awareness, lack of access, lack of financial resources, lack of concern. I can only imagine that not everyone -- due to life circumstances -- can be a recipient of this potentially life-saving test. Like I was -- at the age of 34 with a small but aggressive cancerous tumor living in my left breast. My referral for a mammogram saved my life. And I can only imagine how many more women might be saved from the horror of breast cancer because a mammogram assisted in early detection. I can only imagine that the day will somehow arrive when all women -- of all ages -- are afforded the opportunity for this test. And that those who have the opportunity -- and the means -- decide to delay no further.

My mom goes for a mammogram today -- which reminds me of a time when this test meant nothing to me, a time when all I needed to know was that women my mom's age went for this procedure that squashes and squeezes and manipulates breasts so that pictures can be taken and tissue can be studied. I thought that I would be 40 years old when I went for my own mammogram and that I would casually learn that everything looked normal -- that breast cancer was of no concern. But it didn't happen this way -- instead I went for my first mammogram at age 34, six years earlier than recommended, because I felt an odd lump. And I learned that cancer was of concern. I learned that I had breast cancer. And so now, as I am about to turn 36, I have had three mammograms and will return every six months for the rest of my life for this test. By age 40, I'll be a pro.

I once thought a family history of breast cancer trickled down from the older women in a family -- that a grandmother might have it first, then her daughter, then her daughter. Like a chain reaction. But now I know that family history can start with anyone, at any age. I started this chain in my family.  And there is no telling whether or not the chain will break or will hold strong. So the women in my family are now followed almost as closely as I am. And mammograms occur frequently for us all.

I was once unaffected by my mom's mammograms.  Now I am more aware, more prepared for the seriousness of this exam, more humbled because of my own experience. And today I hope that my mom learns casually that everything looks normal -- that breast cancer is of no concern.