Stories of Inspiration

At age 60, I was at the top of my nursing career as head of orthopedics in the operating room at a hospital in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I was healthy, with no significant medical background, and often planned my next hiking and camping trip with my husband, John. We have two adult children, a son and a daughter, life was…

My husband and I had been trying to have a baby since the birth of our son in 1999. By 2002 I had already had three miscarriages, and in February of 2003, we learned that I was pregnant again. During the years leading up to this pregnancy, I suffered from consistent, painful, large ovarian cysts on both ovaries. Each cyst…

It was like any other Tuesday... After my last class, I was walking in the hallway with my best friend getting ready for cheerleading and gymnastics practice. Suddenly, everything was different. I felt a foreign excruciating pain in my stomach, I felt dizzy, and the next thing I knew, I came to the bathroom and threw up. This pain was…

My name is Sara and I was 34 years old and in the best shape of my life when I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I had an IUD placed and on the follow-up placement ultrasound, they saw a cyst. I then had my CA125 drawn and it was normal. We followed up 6 months later with an ultrasound and…

Up until my thirties, my only medical history consisted of having a history of ovarian cysts which even required surgery to remove them; but ovarian cancer was not in my vocabulary. When I started to spot (bleed) and have some abdominal pain, my first thought was "oh I probably have another cyst". I guess technically, I was right. I made…

There's no clear history of cancer in my family. I was a college athlete. I prioritized whole-body health and I taught others the benefits of doing the same. I've always thought I was immune. One night in May of 2020, I tried to go to bed but couldn't lie down comfortably. I began having difficulty breathing. Pain spiraled out from…

My very complicated health journey starts at a young age. By the time I was in my late teens I was diagnosed with endometriosis, PCOS, and Calcium renal calculus (calcium kidney stones). Between my doctors and myself, we tried countless options to relieve and heal my never-ending symptoms. In 2012, my brother and I were in a life-altering car accident.…

It all started in March 2018 when I was in my final year of nursing and (no exaggeration) I woke up looking like Humpty Dumpty, or, more accurately a walking barrel. To make that clearer I had gained 10kgs in 2 weeks and had gone from running 10 miles the previous weekend to getting breathless walking 10 steps. Not wanting…

My story begins in March 2019 when my gynecologist noticed that my uterus felt enlarged during my annual exam. She ordered a transvaginal ultrasound, which detected a 9cm mass in my left ovary. My bloodwork looked stable and my ca- 125 tumor marker was within the normal range, so we were optimistic the mass was benign. But during this time…

My first symptom — abdominal pain — started eight months before my diagnosis. Because I had been healthy my entire life, and because the pain came and went through the months and wasn't consistent, I didn't think it was serious. Twice I thought it might be a urinary tract infection: I saw a same-day physician assistant the first time and…