‘They checked me and then sent me home'
Christine Lawlor-shaw uses holistic approach to help overcome an ovarian cancer diagnosis
It is an outcome that is all too familiar.
Christine Lawlor-shaw of Goulds was in pain.
The next few weeks of her life were difficult, as she was back and forth to the emergency room seeking relief for her abdominal pain.
“My symptoms were there. But those at emergency were not acknowledging it. They checked me and then sent me home,’’ she said Tuesday.
“I was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer in March 2018,” she added.
By the time an additional ultrasound was scheduled, she was already in treatment receiving three rounds of chemotherapy, then a surgical procedure to remove the masses and was then scheduled for three additional rounds of chemo.
She took two treatments and then opted out of the final one, as she was tired of feeling awful from putting what she called “poison" in her body.
The prognosis for women with the chance of survival from ovarian cancer is one in two women, a number that hasn’t changed for more than 50 years.
This makes Lawlor-shaw one of the lucky ones.
As a means of treatment, she made a conscious decision to go down her own path and see where it took her.
“I chose to seek out a holistic nutritionist. Chemo is such a bad chemical to have in your body. The nutritionist was recommended to me, as what she does nourishes your body back to health,” Lawlor-shaw said.
“I felt I couldn’t go back to my normal, regular life. You have to go out and find help to nourish your body back to health.”
Lawlor-shaw and a host of survivors and supporters will gather at Quidi Vidi Lake on Sunday for the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope, with registration and coffee starting at the Boathouse at 9 a.m.
She hopes her story will resonate with others who have similar symptoms and need medical attention.
“Pre-diagnosis is important, but so is post-diagnosis. This disease will come back to you if you don’t get help,’’ she said.
“You have to be educated and have awareness of the symptoms and make sure you go to your own doctor and push for tests," she added, noting emergency was great, but they are not always prepared for everything people come in for.
She was surprised to find out how long the wait list was for a simple ultrasound. Her scheduled appointment was five months away … with no relief in sight.
After she was tested, she heard the words nobody wants to hear … you have cancer.
“I was shocked. I had lived a healthy life. I walked, I eat healthy — except for a cookie here and there,’’ she said.
“But I was fine. I was sick as a dog for a while, extreme vomiting, but my family hurt more than I did.”
Lawlor-shaw finished her last treatment in September 2018 and was proud to say as she sat in Starbucks on Kenmount Road that she is cancer-free a year later.
She has to go back every six months for a checkup, something that is necessary, but she says more needs to be done to ensure there is not a recurrence of the disease.
“They ask how you are feeling, talk about your symptoms, but there are no tests done to see if it has come back,’’ Lawlor-shaw said.
Ovarian Cancer Canada champions the health and well-being of women with ovarian cancer and others at risk of this disease, while advancing research to save lives. It is the only national charity dedicated to this disease.