Hey Girl! We Care is a personal advocacy effort by Emee whose sister died of cervical cancer back in 2008. This motivated her to spread awareness about the disease so that more women will be armed to fight the disease which gave her sister extreme physical suffering and pain up to the end. She does not want anybody to experience such [suffering and pain].
Emee ’s sister died at the age of 41. Typically people at this age worry about their jobs, their family, and vacations here and there but Emee’s sister worried about death.
She had cervical cancer – a cancer that does not have symptoms for it usually mimics other symptoms. You’d think everything is all right – just like what Emee’s sister did. She put off going to the doctor until the cancer finally reached a dangerous state and eventually, won over her body.
However, the pain her sister went through could not be forgotten.
Emee’s sister told her that she felt like there were needles pricking her private parts all the time; she felt like urinating but when she tried to, she could not; bowel movement was very difficult – she felt like doing it but she could not and she would be in pain for hours at end in the bathroom; the pain started from the pelvic area, the front and the back which kept her from sleeping day in and day out and then eventually, down to the legs until she could no longer walk; first, the pain recurred every 8 hours, then 4, then 2, and then every hour. This pain – this excruciating pain – Emee had seen through her sister. And she does not want anybody or anyone seeing such pain and suffering.
Emee wants each and every woman to know that the pain her sister experienced is 100% preventable. She’s here to spread the word about cervical cancer – the 2nd most common “killer” among women (next to breast cancer), which takes twelve lives every day in our country. She’s here because she cares what happens to women like her; she cares because she has seen the cancer taking away her sister; she’s here because she does not want women to eventually say, “if only I knew”.
Thus, Hey Girl We Care began.
Hey Girl We Care is an organization that aims to educate women – young and old alike – about cervical cancer. The organization’s mission is not only to impart information about cervical cancer itself (its cause and its effect) but also its prevention through a series of talks and fundraising activities.
Hey Girl We Care knows that every woman who is sexually active is susceptible to such cancer regardless of age, profession and/ or status. The organization seeks to open the eyes of every woman that she, too, is at risk.
Hey Girl We Care believes firmly that to learn is to prevent.
It is enough to know that through Hey Girl We Care’s talks and other activities, women around will know that cervical cancer is 100% preventable. And because of such knowledge, they will not be afraid or scared to face such risk or even talk about it.
Hey Girl We Care, through its programs, envisions that more women will be vaccinated, and that more women will get a Pap Smear every year in order to prevent such cruel disease overtaking their bodies. Early detection means prevention!