
Actress and comedian, Yvette Wilson, who played the role of Andell Wilkerson on UPN’s “Moesha” and its spinoff, “The Parkers.” passed away from cervical cancer in the summer of 2012. She was only 48 years old.
She was loved by those on set and was always referred to as always smiling and full of life.
There are some lessons we can learn from both the life and death of the beautiful, Ms. Wilson.
The star was not only battling stage 4 cervical cancer, but kidney disease as well.
Following a staging evaluation, a stage IV cancer is said to exist if the cancer has extended beyond the cervix into adjacent organs, such as the rectum or bladder (stage IVA), or the cancer has spread to distant locations in the body which may include the bones, lungs or liver (stage IVB) like it did with Yvette.
Cervical cancer diagnosed in this stage is often difficult to treat, and a small minority of patients are cured of the disease.
According to 2016 figures by the CDC, African-American women are more likely to die from cervical cancer than any other ethnic group, despite coming in second, to Hispanic women, in overall incidence.
The American Cancer Society recommends talking to your doctor if you have any of the following cervical cancer risk factors:
- You have chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted disease.
- You eat few fruits and vegetables.
- You are overweight.
- You take oral contraceptives (birth control pills).
- You have had multiple full-term pregnancies.
- Your mother or sister had cervical cancer.