No woman Left Behind

[Tulips66]

Hi ladies, today 8th May is "World Ovarian cancer day "so I am thinking of you all today . We all show remarkable courage & strength as we deal with this dreadful disease. We are all here to help each other in different ways & I think we can all spread awareness to other women who might have symptoms of Ovarian cancer , but don't realise these can be linked to OC because as a lot of us know the symptoms can be very vague. We often put these symptoms down to the menopause or IBS or for other reasons & don't get them checked . This can then lead to women to be diagnosed at a late stage or often women, as I have read on here several times are not listened to by their doctors. If any of you are interested the Irish "No women Left Behind" campaign have a petition where you can sign & share if you wish. They are asking the World health organisation WHO to recognise Ovarian cancer as a global priority & to spread better awareness so that all women know what the symptoms are. Hugs to you all today 🩵

[candyapplegrey]

Thanks, Tulip. Will definitely sign. I see that Pancreatic Action has had a big push to spread awareness of pancreatic cancer and I think we need to do the same with OC. This day comes around and I very rarely see anything on TV about it. x

[Lirene in reply to candyapplegrey]

I certainly agree. Ovarian cancer is an extremely poor relation to other cancers as we hardly ever receive any coverage or information. World Ovarian Cancer Day and we have heard nothing in the press or TV !! Millions of women worldwide have ovarian cancer [edited by moderator]. Women are being diagnosed at an earlier age. We have no screening program and extremely vague symptoms to work from. GP’s don’t seem to understand the symptoms and just say it’s ‘just our age’ or IBS. Therefore, many of us are not diagnosed until extremely late-stage where we are treatable but not curable. All we seem to have is CA125 which is not a good marker for everyone. We should be shouting from the rooftops - don’t let us keep on keeping quiet let’s do something about this hideous disease which is affecting more and more women every year. We need world-wide awareness now, not in ten years time !!

Love and prayers to all Lx

[Tulips66 in reply to candyapplegrey]

I read one article in one of our popular newspapers over here during the week about a woman who has Ovarian Cancer, but I couldn't believe there wasn't a mention of anything to do with Ovarian Cancer in it today ,which I think is a disgrace. There is so much media awareness about breast & cervical cancer which don't get me wrong I think is great , but I can't understand why Ovarian cancer & all Gynaecological cancers are never mentioned in the same way . There are some who are really trying hard to get the message out there & there are plenty of sites to get information from when you are already diagnosed but it's when women have symptoms & don't realise that they could be connected to Ovarian cancer . Lots of my women friends had never heard of a CA 125 & neither had I until I was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer. None of them knew what symptoms they should be aware of . This is where women are being very badly let down & why a lot of us were diagnosed at late stage OC. Hopefully this will soon change . Thanks for signing & hopefully they will listen. Hope you are doing ok yourself X

[Pixiepurple]

Well done. It's so true. I has only one symptom fatigue & put it down to menopause. Do you have the link for the petition by any chance?

[Tulips66 in reply to Pixiepurple]

Hi Pixiepurple, hope you are doing well . Hopefully the WHO will finally prioritize Ovarian cancer so that awareness will improve. At the moment women all around the world are been let down badly . Thank your interest in signing the petition. I am sure like myself ,you don't want other women to be going through what we are if it can be prevented in any way. Take care Https://worldovariancancercoalition.org

[Pixiepurple in reply to Tulips66]

Thank you Tulips66. I have shared the beat info on Facebook a few times & have signed the petition. I post very little on social media but I try to share as much as possible about OC. I told close friends & family last year. N because of this a very good friend went to the doctor when she knew something was wrong. She was diagnosed with S2 breast cancer & said she wouldn't have gone only for me. As she had no symptoms. Anyway better get on with another day. Thanks again for the link.

[Emcee71]

Thank you Tulip. I have signed.I also did a Facebook post which took some courage as last time I posted about my diagnosis a relative decided to tell me a convoluted story.about her friend which made me really frightened. People also pity you which I hate. But I do believe we have a responsibility to spread awareness so that's what I have done.

Solidarity to all of us xxxxx

[Tulips66 in reply to Emcee71]

Hi Emcee71 , I am very behind 🙈 & don't do Facebook , Instagram or anything like that , I leave that to my two daughters so thank you for posting on Facebook. I don't really post on here either very often anymore because I feel sometimes my journey might frighten the newly diagnosed women who are reaching out looking for positive stories . I suppose even though I am on chemo again for the 3rd time since 2019, I still think I am one of the lucky ones ,that I am still here for my daughter's. Spreading awareness of OC can only help their generation too so hopefully they won't have to go through what you & I are, so thanks for signing the petition, I hope it does help. Take care of yourself & stay strong X💞

[Emcee71 in reply to Tulips66]

Don't you worry about being *behind" you look after yourself and never feel you can't post here, this is your safe space (all of ours). I'm so sorry you're having to go through what you are, and thank you again for posting about the petition xx

[Emcee71]

PS my Facebook is private but my Instagram is public, if anybody would like to connect please follow emceepix 😻

[NewtonEmma1900]

signed ❤️🙏

[Dubai18]

Hi Tulip 66

Thanks for this info. ☺️ have signed the petition. You are so right, this horrible disease is not being given enough coverage and GP's don't listen enough to help😔. I had that experience and was diagnosed when it got to stage 4. Thank you again for highlighting this. 🙏🏽.

[candyapplegrey]

Me again. Yes. Let's make sure all our friends and family sign. I keep saying the vague symptoms we're supposed to look out for do not help. I had only post-menopausal bleeding, extreme pain on two separate days and I was sick a couple of times. Perhaps we need to take a survey to see which symptoms we had. I looked up the bleeding online and it just said 'This is highly unlikely to be related to cancer'.

What is on the news? On TV? In the paper? Prostate cancer. [edited by moderator]

Is it because men still run the world? Is society and the medical profession misogynist?

Sorry if I've offended anyone. I'm just saying it seems incredibly unfair.

CAG xx