The Truth About Ovarian Cancer

The Truth About Ovarian Cancer – What YOU Need to Know

The following are basic but critical Rules of the Road in confronting the possibility of having ovarian cancer:

  1. Family history – If you have a family history of ovarian cancer, you are already predisposed to having the illness yourself. Make sure you keep the following on the top of your radar:
  2. Trust yourself and your instincts – You know yourself and your body better than anyone. If you feel that something is not right, you probably ARE right.
  3. Know the symptoms – Early ovarian cancer rarely has symptoms. As the disease progresses, some symptoms may appear. These include:
    • Bloating or pressure in the belly, swelling in your belly/abdomen area.
    • Pain in the abdomen, back, kidney area or pelvis area for no apparent reason, like exercise, or overdoing tasks.
    • Appetite and stomach issues, including trouble eating, loss of appetite, feeling full more quickly than you should, an upset stomach or heartburn.
    • Bladder and Bowel Issues, including urinating more frequently, feeling like you need to urinate urgently or more frequently, constipation.
    • Fatigue. Getting tired more easily and being tired more frequently.
    • Pain during sex.
    • Unexplained weight changes — losing weight without trying, or bloating that seems like weight gain.
    • Unusual vaginal discharge or bleeding, especially after menopause.
  4. Do Your Homework – Learn everything you can by visiting the following websites: The National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, The American Cancer Society, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and The Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, Inc.
  5. Shop for the Right Team with a History of Wins, Before You Invest More Precious Time or a Co-pay – It’s not about money – it’s about time and your life. Take the time to contact every gynecological oncologist in the book, get references from friends and neighbors, contact a local hospice program case manager and see if you can get a reference of known practitioners, vet the names you do have through them (and get a sense of their reaction to the names you mention). And of course, contact your insurance company – if you have one. It’s about more than being in NETwork – it’s about making It Work to save your life.
  6. Research the Selected Team Before You Meet – State Medical Boards – or even Google – can provide you with some critically important background information about your team’s members, including if they have had their license suspend in the past and why, the number and type of malpractice lawsuits they have had brought against them, and simple patient feed-back. If you find troubling issues – find another team or ask the team members to explain the nature and outcome of the complaint. Rely on your instincts to judge the answers you get.
  7. Test Your Practitioners – If you know more about ovarian cancer than your medical team, you need a different medical team. This isn’t about being nice, polite, or loyal – this is about saving your life.
  8. Be blunt and ask them to do the same – After you have selected a team, ask your medical team and lead oncologist to be deadly frank about your condition, treatments and probability of outcome. Ask them how many cases of ovarian cancer they are currently treating or have treated in the last 12 months; ask them how many successful cases they have had over the last few years and what they have found to be the most effective means of hitting the cancer head-on. Remember – your desired outcome – is life.

Download and print the following brochure to track your own signs and symptoms of possible ovarian cancer to share with your healthcare team. A copy of that brochure can be mailed to you (one or in quantities) upon request free of charge by contacting us at [email protected] or by phone (not text), at (856) 595 2184.  

Bridget Nesko – OC Report Card

If You Are Diagnosed, Then What?

While the Foundation develops its educational digital content and information sharing programs, there are a number of excellent nonprofit organizations dedicated to providing information and support to victims currently suffering from ovarian cancer.

It is not our intent to replicate those services.

We suggest that you contact the following:

Tell Every Amazing Lady About Ovarian Cancer Louisa M. McGregor Ovarian Cancer Foundation: T.E.A.L.® stands for both Tell Every Amazing Lady About Ovarian Cancer Louisa M. McGregor Ovarian Cancer Foundation and for Teal, the color that symbolizes ovarian cancer. 

Founded in 2009 by two sisters from Brooklyn, NY to draw attention to ovarian cancer, T.E.A.L. is a grassroots 501C3 not-for-profit organization, has grown to become a national movement.  Its goal is to decrease mortality rates by helping women identify signs and symptoms and urging them to seek medical help at the earliest possible stages. They believe that by equipping women with knowledge about the disease and its signs, and encouraging them to listen to their bodies, we can save lives. 

T.E.A.L.® ovarian cancer programs focus on providing support to patients and survivors, raising public awareness, and sharing resources with key partners in the struggle to end ovarian cancer. 
 

T.E.A.L. also funds cutting-edge research and public education campaigns designed to improve the lives of ovarian cancer patients and those at risk of contracting the disease. We are constantly in the community participating in health fairs, symposiums, and lectures at schools, universities, community centers, hospitals, and community meetings throughout the year to provide information about ovarian cancer and to address this important women’s health issue. Our programs function on the principle that awareness and education of ovarian cancer is empowering, and understanding this deadly disease is the first step toward fighting it.

Bridget’s Foundation strongly recommends this organization as a source of information and support, and has funded the placement of a commemorative plaque in their Brooklyn, N.Y. headquarters as a permanent mark of our commitment to support their organization.

World Ovarian Cancer Coalition: Formally established in 2016, the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition (“WOCC”) is the only global not-for-profit focused on ovarian cancer. Working with close to 200 patient advocacy organizations around the world (including the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation), the Coalition is determined that everyone living with, or at risk of, ovarian cancer has the best chance of survival and the best quality of life possible, no matter where they live.

The World Ovarian Cancer Coalition builds on the significant impact of the annual flagship ovarian cancer awareness campaign – World Ovarian Cancer Day, started in 2013 and our ground-breaking Every Woman Study™ published in 2018. Building on the Study, the Coalition launched the Global Ovarian Cancer Charter in 2020. The Charter, a living document, pivots around six Global Goals and is a clear call-to-action for all those committed to improving survival and quality of life for women with ovarian cancer.

In 2022, in partnership with the International Gynecologic Cancer Society the Coalition launched the Every Woman Study™: Low- and Middle-Income Edition which will detail the lived experiences of women living with a diagnosis in close to 24 countries. Results from this Study are due in the Autumn of 2024.

Concurrent with the next generation of the Every Woman Study™, the Coalition is also undertaking an Ovarian Cancer Cost-of-Illness Study. Working with RTI International, this Study will look at 11 high- to low-income countries, quantifying the cost of ovarian cancer on healthcare systems, as well as looking at the impact of those with ovarian cancer out of paid and unpaid roles as a result of ill health. The low- and middle-income countries in this Study will map over some of the countries involved in the Every Woman Study™: Low- and Middle-Income Edition, providing a robust case for change at national and international levels.

In 2023, we proudly took part in an educational global partners meeting at which they aired a panelist discussion about the impact of ovarian cancer on caregivers. Bridget’s husband Kevin was proud and honored to be selected to join that discussion, which aired on November 28th – consequently one year to the day on which Bridget lost her life to ovarian cancer.
Bridget’s Foundation is continuing to work with WOCC to help develop educational opportunities in the professional services sector in the US and globally.

National Ovarian Cancer Coalition: Founded in 1991, the mission of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC) is to save lives through the prevention and cure of ovarian cancer and to improve the quality of life for survivors and their caregivers. The Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation was a sponsor of an NOCC regional area event in 2023.