Wednesday 14-12-2022 - 12:00

My name is Sam. I’m a 21-year-old Creative Writing student at Edge Hill University, and about three weeks ago I was told I had ovarian cancer.

 

While my friends went to classes and socials, I spent most of my November in bed recovering from an operation to remove one of my ovaries. I didn’t feel like a ‘normal’ person because no one I knew was going through anything like this, so I decided to become the person that shared my experience so that everyone can feel able to go seek help when something isn’t right.

 

Periods. Yes, the bloody cycle people with a uterus suffer through on a monthly basis. Mine were never normal but I got so used to it that I never really bothered to fight for myself when GPs slapped the pill on the table like some miracle cure. When fatigue, acne, abnormal weight gain, and other symptoms started to get too much for me, I decided to go back to my GP. I threw around some suggestions: polycystic ovary syndrome (a new discovery for me, thanks to TikTok), endometriosis, imbalanced hormones. We started with an ultrasound scan, where doctors found a mass. I had a MRI scan, a CT, and eventually I was booked in for a laparoscopy, a keyhole surgery looking into my stomach without opening me fully to see what this mass was.

 

I knew they were probably going to remove my ovary that the mass was attached to, but after my bloodwork was all clear you can imagine my surprise to be called two weeks later that the mass was a tumour. It was stage one of a rare and unusual type of ovarian cancer: a granulosa tumour. And I was a rare case, because it’s usually found in middle aged to older women. I had so many thoughts and feelings after this conversation. What will my body be like now my part of me is gone? What if I’m a completely different person? What if any of my symptoms come back? What if the cancer comes back? I had this wave of panic that I would spend every day for the rest of my life worried.

 

 

But I got lucky. I don’t have to have chemotherapy, I don’t have to have any more surgeries. Instead, I have to have regular scans and blood work for the next ten years to check in on my recovery. Instead of falling into a hole of despair and self-pity, I decided to do my part to spread awareness for ovarian cancer. If something isn’t right, you should go get checked out!

 

The main symptoms of ovarian cancer are:

 

• A swollen tummy/feeling bloated
• Pain or tenderness on the pelvis
• No appetite or feeling full quickly
• An urgent need to pee or peeing often
• Indigestion
• Constipation or diarrhoea
• Back pain
• Feeling tired all the time
• Losing weight without trying
• Irregular menstrual bleeding

 

A lot of women and people with ovaries often shove off a ‘bad period’. I started doing this when I was 15. You don’t have to suffer through all of these things and it could be that you have a common and treatable condition that will ease up with medication. Don’t wait until you’ve had these symptoms for years before seeking help. If I hadn’t gone to my GP in August, who knows where I would have ended up.

 

I have no idea how aggressive my tumour was, nor the chances of it coming back. My tumour was so rare that doctors are now using my tumour to gain more knowledge of the disease. So, I’m going to start raising money for this vital research. I’m now planning a book drive at Edge Hill in the new year, and I will be training to run a half marathon! 

 

I hope my fundraising and visibility work helps people like me to one day live with the knowledge that if we do get sick again, we have more resources and medication to help us beat it. 

 

This article was contributed by Creative Writing student Sam Tidd (she/her).