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BOUNTIFUL — Canton Naegle, age 11, is making a different kind of play today.
"I play football, basketball and baseball," said Naegle, who lives in Bountiful. "I'm a little bit nervous but I'm glad that it might prevent cancer," he said.
He's getting the HPV vaccine.
His mother had her daughter vaccinated to prevent cervical cancer, and two of three sons who are old enough to guard against throat and rectal cancer.
"We put a helmet on for football, and we do everything we can to protect them, and yet we can't protect them 100 percent," said Kim Naegle, Canton's mother. "With this vaccine, we are giving them protection from cancer. To me that's an absolutely positively done-deal kind of thing."
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine for boys and girls at age 11 or 12 so they can be protected before they're exposed to the virus.
Every year in the U.S., 27,000 people get cancer caused by the human papilloma virus. That's one person every 20 minutes of every day all year long. Doctors say most adults will be infected with the HPV virus at some point in their lives. Sexual intercourse spreads the disease.
"Anyone that's been through cancer knows that the last thing you want to do is see someone you love go through any kind of cancer," Kim Naegle said.
We put a helmet on for football, and we do everything we can to protect them, and yet we can't protect them 100 percent. With this vaccine, we are giving them protection from cancer. To me that's an absolutely positively done-deal kind of thing.
–Kim Naegle, Canton's mother
She is a cancer survivor. Protecting her kids was a touchdown pass.
Doctors say the HPV vaccine doesn't open the door to sex; it closes the door on cancer. They give the vaccine in three doses over six months and it protects them for life.
"Look over there at that sign. What does it say?" asked Dr. David Cope, a family practice physician with Cope Family Medicine, while he prepped Canton's arm and then gave him the vaccine. "Good job, Canton. You OK?" Canton said he was fine.
He's one of a small percentage of boys in Utah to get the vaccine.
"I think the minute you hear 'sexually transmitted disease' or 'sex' or anything, it gets a barrier up," Cope said. "The real idea is that no matter how you get it, it still prevents cancer."
And doctors say that's a win-win for everyone.
"Yes, we would all like our children to do things the way we would like them to do it, but the fact of the matter is, some of them aren't going to," said Naegle. "If we have something that can give them a shot that protects them from choices we would not want them to make, that's awesome."
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