Living With Ovarian Cancer
- Jemma McGowan, 27, is a mother of three currently living with stage four ovarian cancer. She’s trying all sorts of treatments to combat the disease because she wants more time with her children.
- People online have felt the need to try to bring her down by accusing McGowan of lying about her illness, but she is determined to not let it get to her and make the most of her time with family.
- Ovarian cancer is called the cancer that whispers because its symptoms can be very vague. People should remain vigilant and aware of any new or unusual symptoms and report to their physicians for appropriate evaluation.
- Life doesn't slow down for a cancer diagnosis, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. And living with stage four cancer doesn’t mean you should stop prioritizing your overall wellbeing and continuing to do the things you love.
Jemma McGowan, 27, was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she was 22 and six weeks pregnant with her second child in 2016.
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Over the next four years, she didn’t have any problems or symptoms. But things took a turn for the worse in January 2021 when McGowan was 36 weeks pregnant with her third child with her husband Clive, 40, and she found a lump on her body. After an MRI and early planned C section of her baby just weeks later, McGowan was given the devastating news that her cancer had returned. But this time it was stage four, and she had a tumor in her left lung and multiple tumors in her pelvic and pubic bones.
“The words that stand out to me were: incurable, aggressive and acting unusually,” she said. “I started chemotherapy when Betty was just two-weeks-old but I was not prepared to give up and tell my babies that I’m going to die. I knew then I was going to fight this.”
She underwent three rounds of chemotherapy that made her ill only to discover that she had developed three more tumors in May 2021. Doctors gave her a poor prognosis of three to 15 months to live, but McGowan has been determined to not give up.
“I fought for high dose radiotherapy and I eventually won 20 rounds,” she said. “I want to see my children grow up.
“I don’t want forever, I just want more time, so why wouldn’t I give everything a go?”
She’s since researched alternative and holistic treatments for her cancer and started a GoFundMe page to help pay for various treatment options. She’s also trying to take care of herself by eating well, making precious memories with her children and looking her best when she leaves the house. But the mother of three to Sadie, 5, Louis, 2, and Betty, 1, has had to deal with awful comments from people online as she shares her cancer journey.
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“I get sent at least one nasty comment per week on social media,” she said. “I regularly get told that I’m faking having cancer. And there’s someone else who keeps telling me that I don’t have terminal cancer as I look too good to be ill.”
Even still, McGowan says she refuses to let the haters get to her.
“What they’re saying isn’t true,” she said. “Strangers don’t know what they’re talking about. I feel like writing back ‘What more proof do you want?'”
But despite being in pain and feeling weak, McGowan still has a positive outlook.
“None of us knows what tomorrow brings,” she said. “I feel like I have been given something special as I know there’s a big possibility that my days are numbered.
“Someone once said to me that you could go out tomorrow and get killed in a car accident. I have something special, I know our fate so I can cherish what I have left and have time to prepare.”
Understanding Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is when the ovaries which produce the sex hormone, estrogen, as well as eggs become cancerous. Women have two ovaries, one on either side of the uterus.
Understanding The Stages and Grades of Ovarian Cancer
The fallopian tube, which brings the egg from the ovary to the uterus for fertilization, is actually where many ovarian cancers begin. First, a few cancerous cells develop on the fallopian tubes, then these cells stick to the ovaries as the fallopian tubes brush over the ovary. From there, the cancerous cells grow to form a tumor.
Your risk for ovarian cancer may be increased if you have gone through menopause, have a gene mutation like BRCA1 or BRCA2, are obese or overweight, had your first pregnancy after age 35 or never carried a pregnancy to full-term, have a family history of cancer or used hormone replacement therapy. You should talk with your doctor about your potential risk for the disease.
Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is known as the cancer that whispers because symptoms are vague and sometimes similar to regular menstrual cycle fluctuations. Dr. Beth Karlan, a gynecologic oncologist with UCLA Health, says that ovarian cancer can be difficult to recognize with its subtle symptoms.
Ovarian Cancer: The Cancer that Whispers
"Ovarian cancer does not have any specific symptoms," Karlan said in an earlier interview with SurvivorNet. "It's often referred to as the cancer that whispers in that it has symptoms that are really very vague… and nothing that may bring your attention directly to the ovaries."
But Dr. Karlan still wants women to keep an eye out for a variety of possible symptoms.
"The symptoms include things like feeling full earlier than you usually would when your appetite is strong… Feeling bloated," she added. "Some changes in your bowel habits. Some pain in the pelvis. These are symptoms women may have every month. These are not very specific. But what we've found from multiple studies, it's this constellation of symptoms."
Dr. Stephanie Wethington, director of the gynecologic oncology survivorship program at Johns Hopkins Medicine, previously told SurvivorNet that prevention for ovarian cancer is an important area of focus.
"We must remember that prevention is key and advocate for all women to discuss their family history and individual risk factors with their doctors and ask whether there are risk-reducing options available to them," Dr. Wethington wrote.
Our advice to readers: See your doctor if you feel like something is off. Given that ovarian cancer can have no symptoms or a myriad of symptoms that you might easily brush off as nothing, it's important to always seek medical attention when your gut is telling you something might be wrong. That doesn't mean we should assume the worst every time we feel bloated or have a change in appetite, but it does mean that we should always try to listen to the signs our body is giving us.
Living with Cancer
Life doesn't slow down for a cancer diagnosis, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Like we've seen in the case of McGowan, it's important to remember that a cancer diagnosis even stage four does not mean the end of your life. In fact, our experts say that prioritizing your overall wellbeing and continuing to do the things you love can be very beneficial.
Dr. Geoffrey Oxnard, a thoracic oncologist, shared three things he tells his lung cancer patients about living with the disease:
- Don't act sick "You can't mope around," he said. "Do things, and in doing things, you will stay active."
- Don't lose weight "Eat what you need to do to not lose weight," he said. "I like my patients pleasantly plump."
- Don't be a tough guy "When you've got lung cancer, you need work with your doctor to keep your medical conditions under control."
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