"I'm a youth worker, and I eat like a teenager most days"...that was the go-to reasoning for my weight gain. I found out in March 2019 that my increasing pant size wasn't from too much pizza at the teen group but instead was from a large mass growing in my abdomen.  I will always remember the gynecological oncologist asking THE…

I had never heard of ovarian cancer. Breast cancer, yes; lung cancer, yes; pancreatic cancer, yes. Prostate cancer is well documented on my dad's side of the family, but OVARIAN cancer? I never heard of it, never knew anyone who had it. A common question is, "What were your symptoms?" I usually giggle and tell them that the first concerning…

In 2015, I was planning a wedding to begin a new chapter of my life. Not only was I preoccupied with planning a ceremony, but being a mother of two small girls and working full time, your symptoms take a back seat. I was tired, very tired, like lying on a dirty floor, I don't care, kind of tired. I…

I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December of 2017. I had been having bladder and gastrointestinal problems for years and months, respectively. My stomach sporadically swelled up to where I looked pregnant until it remained permanently like that. A 51-year old looking pregnant! When I finally was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I looked it up, and bingo, all my…

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…

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…