READER LETTER OF THE WEEK

Dear Jude,

My friend has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I’m not writing for any advice, but just to make people aware it exists.

She – and I – did not really know too much about it, and that makes me think other women won’t either. We are all aware of breast cancer, but I confess I knew very little about ovarian cancer.

My friend, like me, is in her fifties, and because we’re going through menopause, there are a lot of changes in our bodies that can be nothing at all and normal or might be the start of something abnormal. I urge other women to go and see their doctor if they think anything might be amiss during menopause – it can be a bit of a strange time.

Thankfully, my friend has a GP who was thorough in a medical appointment she made about something else, so hopefully she has caught it early. It’s been a shock for her – and me.

Thanks for writing and giving ovarian cancer some airtime. The symptoms can be vague and similar to those of other medical conditions, so it’s a good idea to clock in with your GP for a check-up as you go through menopause, just to make sure those body changes are all as expected. Fatigue, loss of appetite, weight gain or loss, bloating, changes in bowel or urinary habits, vaginal bleeding, a sore tummy or back – they could be something, or could be nothing.

Thank goodness your friend had a GP who put the picture together for her.

At a function I attended recently, a young woman talked about how there were different sorts of ovarian cancer, aligned with different life stages, and how half of all women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer are diagnosed in their twenties, thirties and forties.

She talked about the need to research a cure, and recommended the website cureourovariancancer.org/nz.

We are all aware of breast cancer, but not so much of the gynaecological cancers, it seems. Did you know there are five of them? The local websites ovariancancernz.org.nz and nzgcf.org.nz offer great resources and support.

How lovely that your friend has a good mate like you to support her through this.