‘If one person reads this and it helps, it’s worth it’
When Lorraine McKitterick saw her doctor in 2018 about persistent bloating in her abdomen, ovarian cancer was the furthest thing from her mind. She was more concerned about not losing weight on a diet.
After being checked for gallstones, her new doctor in Taunton, Somerset, suggested a CT scan, which revealed a concerning mass. Following further blood tests and a biopsy, Lorraine learned she had stage three ovarian cancer.
One week later, she was in hospital for an operation to remove her appendix, gallbladder and omentum, and began her first round of chemotherapy shortly after.
“I was eating small amounts but felt like I’d eaten a six-course meal. I was bloated all the time and wasn’t losing any weight,” said McKitterick, 60, originally from Glasgow.
“I hadn’t even heard of ovarian cancer. When I woke up in hospital, I was told I was lucky because I’d have had months to live if it had gone undetected.”
Despite having to deal with side effects from surgery and later immunotherapy treatments, including a blocked bowel, sepsis, and encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, Lorraine is determined to stay positive three years after her diagnosis. “I am struggling with my mental health,” she admitted. “They should make support for that more readily available.”
She added: “I’ve started doing mindfulness myself, which helps. When I was diagnosed, I was told I was lucky if I had five years. I was initially in denial but, after two years, I started to get really frightened. Now I’m working hard to focus on the positives and do what makes me happy. Positivity has got me through some really dark places.
“The survival rate for me is low but now I say to myself I’m going to be one of the ones that makes it.”
Lorraine adds that her family – she and her husband John have three sons and eight grandchildren between them – and friends have helped her cope, as has online support groups with fellow cancer patients.
Lorraine stopped cancer treatments in April this year but is still not yet clear of the disease. She hopes sharing her journey with ovarian cancer will encourage more women to get checked.
“I’m flabbergasted that no one really knows about ovarian cancer and the symptoms,” she said. “If one person reads this and decides to get seen by a doctor and it saves them then it’s worth it.”