Moving On After Childhood Cancer
- At the end of April, British distance runner Paula Radcliffe got to watch her 18-year-old daughter run in the London Marathon for the first time — five years after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at just 13 years old.
- Ovarian cancer is a disease that is often harder to catch in its early stages because of its subtle symptoms, such as bloating, weight loss, and abdominal pain that can mimic regular menstrual cycle fluctuations.
- It’s important to note that it is extremely rare for a child as young as 13 to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The American Cancer Society notes that it’s rare in women younger than 40 and most frequently occurs after menopause.
- There is no screening test for ovarian cancer, but doctors say it is important for women to be aware of symptoms — like bloating and feeling full too fast — which can indicate something is wrong.
Radcliffe recounted her daughter’s battle, which began at age 13, in a recent interview with Radio Times, explaining how her symptoms, which included stomach pains and loss of breath, began during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Radcliffe, who shares her daughter Isla and son Raphael, 14, with her husband Gary Lough, added, “There are things you’re not ready for … either going through it or as a parent. She (Isla) doesn’t know how it has affected her chances of becoming a parent.”
On April 27, Radcliffe got to see her daughter, now a cancer survivor, run the London Marathon.
Radcliffe did not run the event herself, but instead worked as a commentator with the BBC.
“It’s an extremely emotional place to be anyway, when you see people turn that corner on the Mall and they realize they’ve done it — but when it’s your little girl doing it, that’s going to be a bit more emotional,” she said before the race.
Ovarian Cancer: What To Know
Radcliffe’s daughter was very young to develop ovarian cancer, at age 13. According to the American Cancer Society, it is rare in people younger than 40, as it usually occurs in people after menopause. Half of all ovarian cancers diagnosed are in people older then 63.
With ovarian cancer, chemotherapy is usually the first stage of treatment, but staging the cancer is a little more difficult until your doctor performs a surgery.
Expert Resources On Ovarian Cancer
- 11 Ovarian Cancer Tests Used for Patient Diagnosis
- “You Are Your Own Best Advocate” – Recognizing the Subtle Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer
- 3 Common Myths About Ovarian Cancer Screening
- 7 Well-Known Women Who Battled Ovarian Cancer, Including Actresses Kathy Bates, Cobie Smulders & Activist Coretta Scott King; What to Know About the Disease
- A Healthy Diet During Ovarian Cancer
- Advances in Ovarian Cancer Treatment
Gynecologic oncologists often recommend a staging procedure when they have evidence that the cancer may be early or limited, which has to do with the location of the tumor. Based on where the cancer is found, it will be assigned a stage.
“If it’s remained in the ovary where it was initially found or developed, then the cancer is Stage 1,” says Dr. Amanda Fader, vice chair of gynecologic surgical operations at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told SurvivorNet.
How Do I Know The Stage of My Ovarian Cancer? Staging Surgery Determines Spread
“But if the cancer has started to spread to other organs or through the lymph nodes to other parts of the body, then it would be identified as Stage 2, 3, or 4,” Dr. Fader added.
The Stages of Ovarian Cancer
As Dr. Fader mentioned, the stages of ovarian cancer depend on if the cancer has spread elsewhere into the body, and how far.
- Stage 1: The cancer is confined to the ovaries or fallopian tubes
- Stage 2: The tumor involves one or both ovaries with extension to other pelvic tissues (or is a primary peritoneal cancer)
- Stage 3: The cancer has spread outside of the pelvic peritoneum including to the outside of the bowel, liver and spleen and/or it involves the lymph nodes
- Stage 4: There are distant metastases (outside of the pelvis and abdomen) or metastases to the inside of the spleen or liver
When doctors have evidence before the surgery, such as from imaging tests, that the tumor may be limited to the ovary, they will usually recommend a staging procedure. During that operation, doctors remove all or part of the ovary with the tumor and send it, while the patient is still asleep on the operating table, to a pathologist who will examine the tissue and identify the type of tumor so doctors can decide how best to treat it.
If the tumor is determined to be benign, the surgery can end. Otherwise, more extensive surgery is usually performed.
Prior to the surgery the patient and her doctor would have discussed the various possible findings, so that depending on the result of the ovarian biopsy, the surgeon knows what the patient’s wishes are and how to proceed. “We would have made these decisions ahead of time through our preoperative counseling,” explained Dr. Fader.
Understanding Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer
There is no screening test for ovarian cancer, but doctors say it is important for women to be aware of symptoms which can indicate something is wrong.
The signs of ovarian cancer can include:
- Feeling bloated or full
- Pain in the pelvis or abdomen
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Changes in bowel habits
As we all know, many of these can be similar to symptoms many women experience monthly with their menstrual cycle.
“We don’t have a good screening method, but if you have symptoms, it’s very important that you go to your physician because there might be an opportunity that we can detect it when it’s still early stage,” Dr. Jose Alejandro Rauh-Hain, a gynecologic oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet.
“It’s very important that patients are not afraid to ask questions to their physicians. Because the sooner we can diagnose the cancer, the better that prognosis.”
Ovarian Cancer: What Are The Symptoms And Warning Signs?
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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