It felt like I had pulled a muscle in my stomach, well that's what we thought it was. I couldn't think of when I had pulled it through, someone suggested I sneezed hard, we went with that. All week the pain was there but I worked around it. It was a busy week so I just pressed on and figured…

For the past 12 years, I have been battling ovarian cancer Stage 3C, a disease that, for me, has become chronic. Since then, I have had 5 recurrences, several bowel obstructions for a total of 5 major surgeries. The longest NED time I have had was from the summer of 2012 until March 2015. I have been on numerous chemotherapies,…

Hi, we are Amy and Nicole - BRCA Sisters. We have been best friends for years with an extremely close bond, we believe there is something extraordinary that we are now bound together by being BRCA gene carriers. To have someone by your side throughout this testing time is literally gold to both of us and we couldn't have asked…

After suffering from severe bloating, bowel issues, frequent urination, and a few other symptoms I started consulting the doctors. I was going to the doctor for what I thought were digestive issues. My doctor told me it was gas. I saw another doctor. After feeling my belly which has a hard spot, I was referred to a gastroenterologist. I knew…

I was a normal healthy 41-year-old wife and mother of 2 girls when I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I started having lower abdominal pain in December of 2010, which led to the removal of a cyst on my ovary. I felt so positive that it was not cancer. When the doctor called with the pathology results it was just…

In 2012 I was diagnosed with stage 3C clear cell ovarian cancer. My life had been going smoothly and I was 1 year from retirement, ready to travel, and do more of the things I loved when bam! my life changed so quickly. My doctors weren't very positive about my prognosis and the news wasn't encouraging. One doctor even told…

One hot July day in 2014, my mother Debi and I were out for a walk. I still remember the look on her face as she winced in pain and stopped dead in her tracks. "What's wrong?" I said. "Just got a quick sharp pain in my lower right side, but it's gone now, weird. Must be gas," she replied.…

My story began in June of 2009 when I was about to find out that the word 'genes' can mean more than something you wear on the weekends. The path that I dreamed of when I was a young college student did not turn out exactly as I had planned. I probably seem normal to strangers walking down the street,…

"I am sorry, Mrs. Tener, but you have all the markings of ovarian cancer." I heard these words. The ER doctor must be talking to someone else, not me. I immediately thought of our daughter Marisa's pending marriage in five months in Hawaii...would I even be alive then? Ovarian cancer sounded like a death sentence to me...I knew it was…

July 30th was 'International Friendship Day', and Nicole, Emily, and Lilly are part of a trio of friends who have always supported each other in both good and challenging times. A friendship that started in elementary and middle school blossomed into adulthood. "We all became close friends as youngsters and the rest is history! We have come a long way…