My parents thought I was pregnant

Seren Hughes, 22, a student at Salford University in Manchester, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 19. In December 2014, I went home to Wales for Christmas after finishing my first semester at university in Manchester. I was bloated over the holiday and my parents were worried I was pregnant. I’ve always been slim, but I didn’t fit into my jeans and couldn’t do up dresses.

I didn’t feel ill, though, and assumed university life was taking its toll and I’d put on weight, even though it was just on my tummy.

When I got back to uni in January 2015, I started going to the gym and making a big effort to eat healthily, but my tummy was still big. Then I started to lose my appetite and everything tasted strange. My period also lasted for three weeks, and I began to get stomach pains and bowel problems.

I went home to North Wales and saw my doctor who did blood tests, although I didn’t know what he was testing for at the time. When I was back at uni on Monday morning, sitting in a lecture, I got a phone call from him telling me to go to my local A&E.

He asked me to write down that my CA 125 was 350 and to show it to the doctor. I found out later that raised levels of this protein in the blood are an indicator of ovarian cancer.

My flatmate Jake took me to A&E straight away where a CT scan showed an ovarian tumour the size of a rugby ball on my right side. I remember my stomach was rock solid at this point. A week later I had surgery to remove the tumour and, after another week in intensive care, I went home to Wales.

I was diagnosed on April 2 with stage 1 ovarian cancer and started chemo a couple of weeks later. As a 19-year-old girl, the possibility of cancer had never crossed my mind.

My ovary and fallopian tube on the right side had to be removed, but the left side remains intact, which means I could get pregnant naturally. I had my eggs frozen, though, as a precaution.

I don’t have a faulty BRCA gene, so it’s important to know that getting ovarian cancer is still possible and to recognise the symptoms.

I understand the fear of not wanting to hear you have it but, if it’s there, leaving it will only make you more ill. I’ve recovered well now and I’m back at university enjoying life.