One Oak Bay father is fighting to protect youth from HPV, following the loss of his daughter five years ago.  

James Spack鈥檚 world changed forever when his daughter Sydney Spack, 28, told him, 鈥淒ad, I have cancer.鈥� The young woman who dreamt of family, children and travel had her life cut short when the HPV-related cervical cancer took her life in July 2020.  

March 4 is International HPV Awareness Day, and Spack is using the day and his story to inspire others and bring attention to the need for youth to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), which may lead to several types of cancer, including penile, throat and cervical.  

鈥淭here is no way to describe the shock to your system, the moment you hear those terrible words from your child,鈥� said Spack, who sat by his daughter's side through months of chemotherapy, radiation and constant pain. 

鈥淎s her caregiver, I shared every moment of discomfort with her. It was a challenge and a lasting image I will never forget.鈥� 

Now, Spack is advocating for HPV vaccination, determined not to let his daughter's death be in vain.  He began by reaching out to Island Health. 

"I said I'd like to tell my daughter's story, because as a parent who had to live with a terminal child who caught the virus, had I known more about it when I was raising my children I would certainly have vaccinated," said Spack. 

"For me, this was a way of finding some recourse to why it happened, and it's given me a bit of a foundation for hoping that parents who are on the fence, who are not knowledgeable or are unaware, make this decision to protect their children from life." 

鈥淲hen you lose a child after a long battle with cancer, you not only lose their everyday presence, but you also lose their future,鈥� said Spack.  

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure which is more difficult to bear. You鈥檙e only left with memories and thoughts of what might have been. Her smile will never be forgotten.鈥� 

Today Spack has a simple message: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to be a parent living with the regret that you could have done something,鈥� he said.  

鈥淧lease, get your child vaccinated. Protect them for life.鈥� 

75 per cent of sexually active people without an HPV vaccination will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives, the Canadian Cancer Society reports. While the infections often clear on their own, they have the potential to be cancerous.  

HPV is also preventable through immunization, which Island Health has made a priority. In 2023, 57 per cent of children in Grade 6, were immunized for HPV across the Island Health region. Public health nurses have continued to visit schools across the region offering vaccination to Grade 6 students, as well as to those in Grade 11 and 12 to boost immunization rates and give those under the age of 19 an additional opportunity to receive the immunization for free.

More information on HPV and related cancers can be found at .