Hi! My name is Louise and I’m a 30-something with a rare cancer. I’m blogging (http://louisewisson.com) in order to help myself and my loved ones through cancer. 

I hope my blog will help others with cancer too. I hope it will help raise awareness and funds for cancer research. My bucket list target is raising £100K+ for cancer charities.

My cancer journey

I got diagnosed with Primary Periteneal Cancer, a rare form of cancer, in December 2012.

Primary peritoneal cancer (PPC) starts in the peritoneum. The peritoneum is the membrane that lines the inside of the abdomen, clinging to and covering all the organs in the abdomen – for example the intestines, the liver and the stomach. 

PPC and epithelial ovarian cancer (the most common type of ovarian cancer) behave very similarly, and are treated in the same way.

Most women don't have any symptoms for a long time and when symptoms do occur they are difficult to diagnose. Therefore, 75% of  PPC and ovarian cancers aren't detected until Stage 3 or 4 out of 4. Unfortunately, at that late stage there is a 70% chance of dying.

Mine was Stage 4.

Thanks to intensive weekly chemo and major abdominal surgery, my overall good health, great fitness levels, relatively young age, good diet, positive mental attitude, and support of my family, friends, colleagues and my amazing medical team, I beat cancer in April 2013. One day and one step at a time. 

Unfortunately, my cancer came back in December 2013. I had a second batch of chemo in 2014 to shrink the cancer, but didn't get rid of it completely. Unfortunately, the cancer started growing again, so in February 2015 I started a 3rd round of chemo. Then in April I got some really bad news: the chemo wasn't working. For weeks I waited to join a clinical trial for PARP-inhibitors at the UCLH. While I was waiting the cancer grew and I had to have 3 drains of of liquid from the lining of my lung.

By some miracle, the Olaparib PARP-inhibitor became available for sale in the UK and I became one of the first patients in the country to have it. The initial results were positive, but when my interim CT scan results came back I was in shock. The cancer had doubled in size. So, there was no other course of action but to stop the PARP-inhibitor tablets. 

I recently started on my 4th round of chemo. This time it was ultra intensive: weekly IV chemo plus an oral chemo tablet daily. I've spent 80% of the time in hospital since i started on the new chemo regime; partly because I needed to drain liquid from my abdomen twice and partly because the chemo is battering my body my immune system is really struggling.   

So, I’m now fighting on all fronts with more chemo to beat it again.

If it weren't for the research that the likes of the Eve Appeal, Cancer Research UK and Breakthrough Breast Cancer do, I wouldn't have had the chemotherapy and other drugs that have helped me beat cancer and which will help me beat it again. 

So, please give generously and help me meet my bucket list target of raising £100K+ for cancer charities.

Why raise funds for the Eve Appeal?

The Eve Appeal (www.eveappeal.org.uk) charity raises funds for groundbreaking research into the 5 gynaecological cancers (ovarian, womb, vulval, vaginal and cervical cancer) to help save women's lives. This, thankfully, includes my Primary Peritoneal Cancer too.

It funds the world-class research programme at the Department of Women's Cancer based at University College London, which is where my surgeon and The Eve Appeal’s Medical spokesperson, Miss Adeola Olaitan, and my oncologist, Dr McCormack, are based when they don't practice at Harley Street Clinic (where they treat me). 

If it weren't for research funded by cancer charities such as The Eve Appeal, plus the wonderful care and expertise of my medical team, I believe, I wouldn't have beaten cancer the first time. 

Further research is what will help us detect, prevent and cure these horrid cancers and help the special women in your life (including me ;-) ) beat the stark odds and survive.

Where will your money go?

Please see all The Eve Appeal's current research projects here: 

1. The Department of Women's Cancer at the Institute of Women's Health at University College London (UCL) are:

• Pioneering better ways of predicting who will develop cancer
• Finding better methods of detecting cancers at an earlier and more treatable stage
• Discovering more effective ways of preventing cancer
• Exploring better treatments
• Improving the care and quality of life for women with gynaecological cancer

PROMISE stands for Predicting Risk of Ovarian Malignancies, Improved Screening and Early detection. This five-year international research project (between University of Manchester, University of Cambridge, The University of Southern California and Harvard Medical School) aims to halve deaths from ovarian cancer in the UK and beyond.

Women diagnosed with stage 1 or 2 ovarian cancer have a 90% chance of survival. But 70% of women currently present at stage 3 or 4 - which means that they have at least a 70% risk of dying.

Ovarian cancer has such poor outcomes, despite intensive efforts to improve surgery and chemotherapy, because the symptoms are difficult to identify and risk is not fully understood.  

The total cost is £3,200,000 over a five-year period. The Eve Appeal has committed to raise up to £2 million, and are the largest single funder of the project.

So please give whatever you can afford to support them, or share this page to help spread the word. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

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