I had annual well woman exams every year. I didn’t know the sign the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer. I was 26. 26 was way too young to have cancer.

After a car accident I had severe abdominal pain. I assumed it was a result of the accident and spent 2 months trying to get to the bottom of the pain. At 26 I was diagnosed with stage 3C low grade primary peritoneal cancer, a sister cancer to ovarian cancer. It took a car accident and a laparoscopic surgery to determine that I had this cancer. They told me the symptoms after the fact and I recognized that I had some of these prior to the car accident – bloating, pelvic pain, loss of appetite – but what woman hasn’t had these symptoms due to stress or your period?

After surgery I completed 18 weeks of weekly chemotherapy. And I was seemingly disease free for one year. Then, I noticed that when I went on my runs I would vomit after them. It was strange but I blamed it on low blood sugar. I went for my three month check-up and got an ultrasound just to double check things. It was back. I was devastated. How could this happen again? I thought I beat it! I didn’t know that it had such a high risk of recurrence. This time more drastic steps were taken. No fertility sparing this time – I had a radical hysterectomy with oophorectomy (i.e. they took all my reproductive organs).

I was put on maintenance therapy and have, thankfully, been disease free for four years. Ovarian cancer has been both a blessing and a curse. It took so much from me – some remnants of my youth, my fertility, my hair! But it’s also given me the opportunity to help spread the word about this terrible disease. It’s given me connections with the most wonderful group of survivors, women, men, medical providers all working toward the same goal – To spread the word about the symptoms of ovarian cancer and the need for a test for ovarian cancer.