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My Story…..

I first noticed something was wrong back in 2008, I was 28 years old. I had a swollen stomach but put off going to the doctor as I wasn’t in any pain and convinced myself that I’d pulled a muscle in the gym and the doctor would think I was crazy for going in complaining of a swollen tummy. – I had no knowledge of ovarian cancer and did not know any of the symptoms.

It wasn’t until six months or more had passed that my friend persuaded me to go to the doctor’s to get checked out. I was sent for an emergency ultra sound the following day after having a pregnancy test which came back negative.

The ultra sound showed a large cyst on my left ovary. I was sent home and told to wait for an appointment to have it removed. My parents were quite concerned and my Dad paid for me to go to a private hospital, there I had an internal scan which revealed the cyst had pretty much taken over the ovary and that they would probably not be able to save it. Whilst there I also had a blood test which came back with good results and was told it was very unlikely that I had cancer.

5 weeks later I went into hospital – The RD&E in - to have the cyst removed, I went in to theatre not knowing if I was going to have keyhole or open surgery. As the cyst was so large they were unable to tell me which would be more appropriate. That was on the 10^th December 2008.

The day before New Years Eve I was asked to go back to the hospital for the results of the lab tests. I went in with my mum and boyfriend at the time to be told that they had found cancer and although they thought they had got it all I would have to go back in to have my ovary (which they had managed to save) and fallopian tube removed, and would also have to go through 6 rounds of chemo.

I had my second surgery on 21^st January 2009 and started chemo on 20^th February.

I finished chemo in July last year and now go for 3 monthly check ups where I have blood tests and physical examinations. So far so good!

There is no real history of cancer in my family and if it wasn’t for the cyst I would have never known. Since all this has happened I’ve read quite a lot about ovarian cancer and spoken to people that I know and work with. It seems not many people know the risks or symptoms associated with this illness and one real issue I found difficult to cope with is a lot of the information is aimed at older woman. I understand it isn’t very common in younger people but I believe everyone should be made aware.

Why Force….

The Force centre is located at the RD&E hospital and is a vital service for people affected by cancer directly or as a carer or family member. Force has also raised money to fund equipment for the cancer unit within the hospital and so even if a patient never goes to the Force centre they still directly benefit from all the hard work carried out by the charity.

 

FORCE Fund Raising

 

FORCE Cancer Charity generates all it's income from voluntary contributions. We rely on fund-raising events, our 'Friends of FORCE' groups, legacies, donations and our Award winning charity shop in Heavitree to raise much needed funds. This year our total commitments amount to £700,000.

How is this money spent?

Staffing and running the FORCE Cancer Support Centre in Exeter

Purchasing equipment for Oncology treatment.  Departments helped include Radiotherapy, The Centre for Women's Health, Breast Cancer Care, Urology,  Cherrybrook (Oncology Day Case Unit) and the Oncology Ward at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital Wonford.  Equipment has also been purchased for .

Two Research Studentships whose work is focused on ovarian cancer and lung cancer at the .

FORCE

EX2 5DW

Phone: 01392 402875
Email: forcefr@forcecancercharity.co.uk or fill in the Contact Form