Knarik Arakelyan, Chief of Staff at OncoDaily, Managing Editor at CancerWorld, shared CancerWorld’s post on LinkedIn, adding:
“Twenty-five years ago, Tamika Felder was terrified she would not survive. Today, her story is helping others believe they can.
During our conversation for CancerWorld, there was a moment I did not expect.
When I told Tamika that another cervical cancer survivor – Karen Nakawala– had found hope through her advocacy, she paused.
Her voice broke.
‘That literally makes me want to cry’, she said.
And suddenly, behind more than two decades of global advocacy, I saw the 25-year-old woman who once heard ‘You have cancer’ and believed she was going to die.
Today, she has turned that experience into a mission: breaking stigma, educating others, amplifying survivor voices, and fighting for a future where no woman dies from a cancer we already have the tools to prevent.
Perhaps what moved me most was how she described the legacy she hopes to leave:
‘This horrible thing happened to me. But if it could help other people, maybe it was worth it.’
Thank you, Tamika, for trusting me with your story and for reminding us what can happen when pain is given purpose and a voice is used to make the road easier for those who come next.”
Quoting CancerWorld’s post:
‘We have the vaccine. We have screening. We have the tools. So why are women still dying from cervical cancer?’
At 25, Tamika Felder heard the words that changed everything: ‘You have cancer.’ She feared she would die. Treatment saved her life, but cost her fertility and changed the future she had imagined.
More than two decades later, she has transformed that experience into a global movement—challenging stigma, amplifying survivor voices, and advocating for HPV vaccination, screening, education, and equitable access to prevention.
Her message is urgent: ‘The cost has been death.’
But so is her conviction that change is possible: ‘There is no reason anyone in this world should die from cervical cancer. We have the tools.’
This is a story about survival, but also about what becomes possible when one survivor refuses to let silence have the final word.
Read our CancerWorld interview by Knarik Arakelyan.”
Other posts featuring Knarik Arakelyan on OncoDaily.