A Hamilton County resident and Noblesville High School graduate, Kristen Forbes, died of a preventable form of cervical cancer in June 2008. Her family has since formed the Kristen Forbes EVE Foundation to raise awareness of a vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer and help ensure other families do not have to endure this kind of loss.
Toward that goal, the Hamilton County Health Department, in partnership with the Indiana Immunization Coalition is offering a free screening of the movie “Someone You Love: The HPV Epidemic” from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21 at Riverview Hospital, 395 Westfield Road, Noblesville.
“Our daughter, Kristen Forbes, is one of the five women in the documentary,” Brenda Forbes told The Reporter. “We lost our daughter Kristen to HPV Cervical Cancer June 1, 2008 at the age of 23.”
Kristen was a Noblesville High School graduate in the class of 2003 and had just graduated from IU Kelley School of Business one month before her Stage 3C diagnosis.
“For our family, we don’t want to see another ‘Kristen’ and that is why we want to help raise awareness and educate,” Forbes said. “The HPV Vaccine became available in 2006. We knew nothing about the vaccine. Kristen was diagnosed in 2007. She had a PAP 18 months before she was diagnosed with Stage 3C cervical cancer. At the time our oldest daughter was too old for the vaccine, and when it was approved for men, our son was too old for the vaccine.”
While there is a vaccine, the incidence of this form of cancer continue to rise.
“HPV oropharyngeal cancer is the growing cancer now,” Forbes said. “The CDC is projecting that it will surpass cervical cancer by 2020. HPV causes six different cancers: Anal, penile, vulvar, cervical, oropharyngeal and vaginal. The best age for the Guardisal vaccine is 11 to 12 years old. The immune system is stronger. The vaccine is a cancer prevention vaccine. Why would you not want to protect your child against cancer? I think we have a lot of education to do on getting parents informed and just make them aware you can protect your children from cancers.”
When asked about the Kristen Forbes EVE Foundation, Brenda Forbes told The Reporter, “EVE stands for Educate and screen, Vaccinate and Eradicate. Our purpose is to educate the public on HPV, cancers that HPV causes and get our youth vaccinated. The documentary does a wonderful job on educating and giving real stories of five women. The producer is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Frederic Lumiere.”
The Hamilton County Health Department is partnering with the Indiana Immunization Coalition, who bought the rights to the documentary and are showing it throughout Indiana for free.
“Kirk [Brenda’s husband and Kristen’s father] and I have traveled the state to be on panels following the documentary screenings,” Forbes said. “Through the Indiana Immunization Coalition and IU Medical, it is approved for continuing education for doctors, PAs, pharmacists, pharmacy techs and nurses.”
When the EVE Foundation began showing this movie, Indiana was one of the worst states for vaccination rates, ranking 49th overall, including Puerto Rico. Due in part to the work of the EVE Foundation, that number is improving.
“We have gone from 49th to 40th last year,” Forbes said. “We do have a long way to go but it is an improvement. The Guardisal vaccine has been a series of three shots over a several month time period. And it’s been approved for 9-26 years. They have lowered the vaccine to two shots for the 9- to 14-year-old group and it’s in the process now of being approved for the age group of 27- to 45-year-olds.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, virtually all cases of cervical cancer are caused by human papillomaviruses (HPVs), and just two HPV types, 16 and 18, are responsible for about 70 percent of all cases.
The Forbes and the EVE Foundation have won several awards from the Coalition for their help in promoting HPV awareness, including the Governor and Cheri Daniels Healthy School Award and the Colts/Anthem Angel Award. The Indiana Immunization Coalition has also established a Kristen Forbes Teen Award.
The HPV vaccine can be given from ages 11 through 26. If you would like you children to be vaccinated, call the Hamilton County Health Department at (317) 776-8500 for details.