This is my beautiful mother, Kara.
She recently passed away from ovarian cancer after fighting an inspiring and courageous battle. Everyone who knew her would tell you about the light and positivity she brought into this world.
@OvarianCancerOz

Public knowledge surrounding ovarian cancer remains limited. This is a disease that doesn’t have effective screening tests. This is a disease that rarely presents symptoms (for my mother it was a persistent cough)

This is a disease that has a 5 year survival rate of 45.7% & is estimated to be the sixth most common cause of death from cancer among females.
This is a disease with a 70% recurrence rate.

Symptoms:

It’s hard to fathom why this isn’t common knowledge. Maybe, if this was at the forefront of media attention, my mother would be with me now. Maybe she would be continuing to share her light with the world.

She was a mother, sister & daughter. She worked tirelessly in a job that improved people’s lives. She was extremely fit and healthy. She was a ballroom dancer, an Australian champion in fact. She had an infectious smile which she shared with many. She loved life.

She isn’t just a statistic. She is a woman who has left a great hole in many people’s lives. And without awareness, her same story will replicate in many other people’s lives. They too will experience great loss of life and opportunity.

Therefore we need this information to be spread to everyone with ovaries. We need this to be common knowledge. If a woman walks into a doctor, presenting general symptoms, but symptoms nonetheless, we need for doctors minds to divert to providing pelvic exams or CA125 blood tests

We need to empower women to feel confident in requesting tests or second opinions if they feel they may be experiencing symptoms.
We need for women to understand if they are an at risk population. Genetic testing is invaluable

Awareness will save lives.

While support is available, people with ovarian cancer don’t get the support they need because cancer support groups comprise largely of breast cancer victims. Without invalidating the pain they endure, we must remember that not all cancers are pink! Some are teal.

It was alienating for my mother to be around people who all shared an experience of cancer that she couldn’t relate to. She didn’t have the positive prospects of recovery. She didn’t have vast treatment options.

She needed the opportunity to communicate with people who were also facing a 45.7% survival rate. She needed to express her frustration at the lack of treatment options.

And that brings me to my final point, we need greater research into ovarian cancer treatments. This cannot be done without funding. Please donate what you can. Look into teal events like the high trails which will run after covid.

https://www.ovariancancer.net.au/donations 

Donations will enable the awareness, support, research and treatment necessary to reduce the impact of ovarian cancer on people’s lives.

Hug your mamas for me, tell them you love them & be ovarian acting