Almost half-a-million women worldwide are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, but you only have to know one of those women to know how devastating this disease can be.

Monica Sebastian says that cancer was once viewed as a death sentence, but significant progress has been made in the past 50 years. Making headlines now is the discovery of a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. "Even with all the medical advancement it's hard for me to fathom that there is now an injection, a vaccine that can help prevent cervical cancer."

Registered nurse Cindi Goff says that any woman who has been sexually active is at risk for developing cervical cancer because of the human papilloma virus or HPV. Some types of this virus can lead to cancer of the female reproductive organs. "There's a new vaccine called Gardisil, it's supposed to prevent two strains of HPV and it should come out pending FDA approval at the end of this year."

Cindi also says that while initial studies for the new vaccine on cervical cancer have been very positive, it's important to understand that this is a preventive vaccine and won't be able to help people who already have been diagnosed with the disease. "HPV is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer in women. So it's not going to put an end to it, it's just going to take care of the two strains that's out there."

Monica hopes this vaccine gets approval soon so women will ask their doctors about it and take advantage of this medical breakthrough. "If I were a younger person and knew now, what I know I would definitely get the injection."

With so many women dying every year from cervical cancer, the promise of a vaccine to help prevent this disease offers tremendous hope.

Typically, the FDA approval process for this type of vaccine takes about 1 year.