Mary Snyder I was Born in 1950, of Caucasian parents living in a suburb of Chicago. My father was a math teacher in the local high school, and my mother worked as a nurse. There wasn’t any history of cancer in my family
0-19 years I was an okay student in school, though I never liked it much. My parents divorced when I was 11, and my mother and I moved into the city. She continued working as a nurse, but also went back to school to get her master’s degree. She wasn’t around very much those days-I guess she was dealing wither her own problems-and I was alone a lot. I started hanging out, began smoking and drinking, and finally, in the middle of my junior year, I dropped out of school. I became sexually active when I was 14, though I tried to get the guys to use condoms, often I they didn’t. Because I was scared I’d get pregnant, I finally went to the local clinic and got birth control pills. I still worried though, about what I might catch from a guy. ·	20-39 Years When I was 21, a girlfriend and I got an apartment together, and I started working as a receptionist as a car dealership. The health plan wasn’t real good there and I only went to the doctor to get more birth control pills. When I was 26, a routine Pap smear showed some abnormal results. When I went back to be checked again, it was normal. I figured the doctor must have messed up and I didn’t go back for my next check-up. I finally went for another check up when I was 33. This time, the results were clear: I had cervical cancer. I was pretty scared and I called my mom to ask her about it. She said that this type of cancer has a high survival rate if it is caught early. They removed the cancer and gave me some literature about risk factors associated with cervical cancer. I learned that condoms protect against more than pregnancy, and I promised myself that in the future I would always have a supply handy.
40-59 years Since my experience with cancer, I’ve been more careful about lots of things in my life. I’m eating a better diet, I stopped smoking, and now the guys I see always wear condoms. I’m even thinking of going back to school.	60+ years With retirement just around the corner, I’ve decided to move out of the city back to the little suburb where I was born. I’m thinking I could get a little apartment overlooking the park where my dad and I used to walk the dog, and maybe I can volunteer in the local school.