Who killed Jennifer?

The invite read “You’re invited to a dinner to die for” and along with it came a magnifying glass. How nifty.

“Some know me by name. Some have eluded my deathly grip. But there are still more women out there – unsuspecting, unaware, ignorant that I am lurking at the sidelines. Eyeing them. Waiting to surprise them when they least expect it.”

I was told to dress-to-kill in 1950’s attire but found none in my wardrobe. I ended up wearing a thick belt over my top and skirt. The theme definitely piqued my curiosity. Never mind if I was pissed off at the drama starring Speaker Nograles, Rep Romualdo and Rep Art Defensor for their show “ Kill the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI)” a few hours earlier. Nothing was going to prevent me from enjoying the night with my blogger-friends.

It was a night for searching clues to find out who this female serial murderer on the prowl is – before it strikes to claim the next victim.”

I figured that there was something sinister about to happen. Spotting a young man in front of me raised my suspicions. Hmm, something is up.

The guy who called himself “Nick” rose and thanked everyone for coming over to Jennifer’s party. The party fun started. We were caught in the middle of a drama while having sumptuous dinner at Melo’s. Each one of us in the table played a role. I was Nick’s mom, others were Jennifer’s best friend. The actors in the room soon unfolded: Jennifer’s mom, the driver/gardener, the ex-boyfriend, Jennifer’s sister, Jennifer’s best friend and an investigator.

Another drama and death but this time, I am going to have fun and I am not going to boo the actors.

This is where it gets interesting. Nick (I don’t know why he never said Jennifer died before dinner) announced that Jennifer has been dead for the past two weeks and called the investigator to search for the killer. The suspects are all in the room and each had a motive for killing Jennifer.

At the end of the “drama”, a doctor rose up and said “I know what killed Jennifer”

This is the drama that unfolded in the room. I later found out these actors are from PETA.

It was cervical cancer which caught my attention. There was no detection against cervical cancer in the fifties. What killed Jennifer was cervical cancer.

The serial killer was indeed the cervical cancer as it has killed millions of women already. Cervical cancer is the second most common female cancer in the Philippines today and it is estimated that 7.277 new cases are reported every year.

I should know. One of my maternal aunts and another paternal aunt died of cervical cancer. Too bad there was no prevention then. Girls are lucky these days because there is a relevant and effective vaccine that targets the cause of cervical cancer which is Human Papilloma virus (HPV) particularly types 16 and 18. I forced my daughter to take the vaccine in 2008 but the price was then prohibitive at 22,000 pesos for the three doses. The doctor told me that it is 2500 pesos per dose. That’s definitely affordable and to think that there is more protection against HPV strains . Another good news is there is no age limit to get this vaccine.

It is no wonder that such a silent killer disease struck Jennifer in the early fifties. There are no signs of symptons of the cancer.

Women can elude from the deathly grip of cervical cancer. They can save themselves from cervical cancer before it is too late.

More fun photos here.

Let me just say that Jefferson need not fear about the outcome of the event. I had such fun. The event was wacky, creative, and stimulating. Who said that product launches have to be ho-hum?