Tiffany Garbutt

After decades of combating daily assaults, the immune system undergoes dramatic changes that drastically affect human health. 

In the 1930s, HPV wasn’t on the radar for most scientists.Four decades passed before anyone connected HPV with cervical, penile, or anal cancer, and it took even longer before scientists developed a prophylactic vaccine.

When Nicole Allard, now an emergency dispatcher with the National Park Service, experienced puberty, something unexpected happened. She began experiencing severe pain in her abdomen and violent, prolonged, reoccurring diaphragmatic spasms daily. “It was hard for me to catch my breath between spasms,” recalled Allard. “I’d have a couple, and then 15 minutes later, I’d have a couple more.” While she occasionally had a week’s or even a month’s reprieve, the pain followed by the spasms always return…