It’s time we stopped calling cancer of the ovaries a silent killer
Annabel Lintott died at the age of 46. Now her friends and family are on a mission to spread an important healthcheck message, as discovers
THERE aren’t many charity bike rides that detour into a vineyard but for friends of Annabel Lintott, incorporating a touch of style into a fundraiser in her memory was a fitting tribute.
When the mum of two, 46, died from ovarian cancer in February, her friend Ian McCulloch says those who loved her were left feeling “slightly helpless”.
Ian – managing director of drinks firm Silent Pool Gin – and some of Annabel and Paul’s friends came up with the idea of a charity bike ride to raise £20,000 for charity Target Ovarian Cancer.
He said: “Most of our friendship group are in their mid to late 40s and the women are experiencing perimenopausal symptoms.
“We want to make sure that women and GPs don’t dismiss what could be signs of ovarian cancer as perimenopause, or something like IBS, so they get diagnosed as early as possible.” The 116.5-mile Coast to Toast bike ride earlier this month began in Milford on Sea in Hampshire, where Annabel was born and grew up.
Riders called at the Wiston Estate Winery in Sussex to collect a few bottles of English sparkling wine. The finish line was at the Wimbledon village branch of delicatessen Bayley & Sage, where Annabel was marketing director, to raise a glass in her honour.
Jennie Allen, 59, who owns Bayley & Sage and worked alongside Annabel, said: “She was amazing – caring, stylish and very firm in a gentle way. She had great manners and charm. She was so gracious and that grace continued throughout her illness.”
When Annabel was going back and forth to her GP with abdominal discomfort, ending up in A&E with severe pain in 2018, Jennie told her to push for investigations into ovarian cancer. It’s a disease Jennie knows all too well, having been treated for it herself twice.
Annabel was finally diagnosed and had surgery involving a radical hysterectomy, the removal of her bowel and spleen and tumours from her liver and diaphragm. She later received chemotherapy.
Paul said: “Annabel told us, ‘When I’m gone, I’m gone’. She wanted us to be happy, not sad.”
While she loved skiing, there was no way Annabel could have been enticed into a 12-hour bike ride.
He said: “She’d think we were mad. She wouldn’t have been up for anything that involved sweating or looking ruffled. But I know exactly what she would say to women, ‘Get checked out. Trust your gut and if you know something is wrong, don’t take no for an answer.’”
Sponsor the team’s efforts at coasttotoast.co.uk