Optimism Is Key
- Actress Marlyne Barrett, 46, is in “complete remission” from ovarian and uterine cancer, both of which she was diagnosed with back in 2022. She has since expressed how grateful she is after undergoing 30 rounds of chemotherapy and surgery.
- 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.
- “Uterine cancer and endometrial cancer are synonymous,” Dr. Diana English, a gynecologic oncologist at Stanford Medicine, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview. “It’s a cancer that’s coming from the lining of the uterus. That’s what endometrial cancer is.”
- Being grateful for moments in life can help cancer patients, or anyone battling some type of disease, stay positive and uplifted. Experts tell SurvivorNet that positive patients typically have more successful treatment outcomes.
- Experts recommend anyone facing cancer should make sure they continue to prioritize their overall well-being and do the things that they love. It can help fuel a positive attitude.
The 46-year-old native New Yorker, who plays nurse Maggie Lockwood on the TV drama series “Chicago Med,” which follows emergency department staffers of the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, has been in “complete remission” after undergoing 30 rounds of chemotherapy treatment and surgery.
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As for how she achieved this new health status, she explained, “I really made sure that I took care of my mental health in the process because I think my mental health is what kept me focused on the mission at hand, which was to care for you and make sure that you allow others to care for you too.
“And that’s not something that just came naturally to me.”
In order to maintain a healthy mindset, Barrett explained in the September 2024 interview, “I want to share my process of’‘my eyes set on victory’ with people. Victory sometimes meant no matter the outcome, I was going to stay joyful. And then victory sometimes meant making myself available to just collapse and not fake being strong.
“Life is just so much more precious. I want to take in every moment. I want to take in life in a rich way.”
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- Fear, Anger, Anxiety: You’re Entitled To Your Emotions
She then stressed how she strives to live in “joyful survival mode,” which she describes as “when you realize that your story is not just your own.”
Barrett continued, “As long as you can find purpose in your survival, you can extend that to help someone. I feel like those that didn’t make it, I carry them inside me.”
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Looking back on her July 2022 diagnosis, which she received in the wake of a routine doctor’s appointment, she said a “huge” mass was found on her left ovary, the size of an American football.
She told People, “It started on the left ovary and took over and went all the way almost to the other. I looked like I had a full-grown fetus inside of me.”
Barrett ultimately completed 15 rounds of chemotherapy, followed by surgery in December 2022, and another 15 rounds of chemo.
Looking back on the pain and struggles she dealt with during her two years of treatment, she said, “I don’t think that people realize mobility means life.
“So as long as I was able to move, work, laugh at everybody’s bad jokes. People were treating me like I was normal, even when my eyebrows were no longer present. It made the time fun, not necessarily having to think about [my health] all the time.”
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Marlyne Barrett’s Cancer Diagnosis
Barrett previously reported feeling “off” a couple of months before her diagnosis as she was recovering from a hernia.
“I had this accumulation of fluid [in my abdomen] that I couldn’t shake,” she told People. “I looked like I was nine months pregnant. And I also had shortness of breath, but no pain, which was interesting.”
Then doctors found a mass that was near the size of a football on her ovary and uterus.
“The initial experience was a shock, a shock to my womanhood,” says Barrett, who has no history of either cancer in her family. “I didn’t believe them, but when they showed me the CT scan, I went, ‘Oh my word.’ The first questions were, ‘Am I going to live?’ I just fell into my husband’s arms. It still takes my breath away when I think about it.”
Since she immediately had to start very aggressive chemotherapy, Barrett said she attempted to snap herself out of it.
“There’s no running from it because it’s my life,” she said. “And eventually you just surrender because it’s so much bigger than anything you’ve ever faced. I found this courage and I just hunkered down and said, ‘I’m going to face this.’”
Understanding Ovarian Cancer
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.
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?
Understanding Uterine Cancer
With uterine cancer, the other cancer Marlyne Barrett was diagnosed with, people may be predisposed to the disease.
“Uterine cancer and endometrial cancer are synonymous,” Dr. Diana English, a gynecologic oncologist at Stanford Medicine, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview. “It’s a cancer that’s coming from the lining of the uterus. That’s what endometrial cancer is.”
Understanding the Risks and Symptoms of Uterine Cancer
“I think one of the challenges with uterine cancer is that it can also happen in younger patients that have certain conditions that might predispose them to cancer,” she explained further. “These patients might not be thinking about this, their primary care providers may not be speaking to them about this.”
Dr. English outlined common risk factors of uterine cancer, including:
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (which is marked by the absence of regular periods)
- Obesity
- Hyperandrogenism (elevated male sex hormones)
- Lynch Syndrome
Staying Grateful Amid Battling Disease
After a diagnosis, it’s understandably extremely difficult to feel grateful for, well, maybe anything. However, studies prove that patients who are able to stay uplifted and positive often have better treatment outcomes. That’s why mindset and attitude can be extremely valuable tools.
Related: Patients Do Better When They are Less Stressed
“The patients who do well with cancer, they live life with gratitude in terms of everything,” Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal cancer surgeon and Director of the Cedars-Sinai Colorectal Cancer Center, tells SurvivorNet.
“They’re grateful, not for cancer, but they’re grateful for an opportunity to know that life is finite. They live life with [saying] ‘I love you’ to their husband, to their wife, to their kids. They can appreciate it for one of the first times ever because they know it may not be forever that they get to do this. Those are the patients that tend to do well with processing and also living a long, long life despite a diagnosis.”
Dr. Zuri Murrell explains why patients who have gratitude can do well during treatment
Although studies show how important it is to find some positivity during a cancer battle, that’s much easier said than done. In addition to tackling treatment, people often juggle an overwhelming number of emotions including anxiety, anger, fear, and sadness.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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