19-Year-Old Diagnosed With Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer After Stomach Issues & Pain—She Froze Her Eggs Before Chemo & Is Navigating Early Menopause

Thompson, whose symptoms were initially dismissed as a virus, urinary tract infection (UTI) or anxiety, didn’t get diagnosed until extreme pain led her to a nearby hospital’s emergency room, where further testing revealed a pelvic cyst. After being released from the hospital with pain medication, she ultimately was called back for additional testing, which confirmed her ovarian cancer diagnosis.

Ovarian cancer often begins in the fallopian tubes, where abnormal cells can migrate to the ovaries and form tumors. Dr. Beth Karlan, a gynecologic oncologist at UCLA Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet, “There are different kinds of ovarian cancer that affect women at different stages of life. The most common type of ovarian cancer, however, typically occurs around the time of the menopause.”

RELATED: New Treatments for Ovarian Cancer Are Changing the Game And Doctors Are Moving Fast

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A post shared by Enlli Thompson (@enlli_thompson)

It’s important to note that 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

“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, previously 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?

Thompson, who froze seven of her eggs before undergoing a full hysterectomy (surgical removal of the entire uterus and the cervix) and chemotherapy treatment, added, “In a strange way I was kind of relieved when they told me I had cancer. Just because then I had an answer, I had a treatment plan, I was going to get better.”

The surgery triggered immediate menopause, bringing a range of symptoms, including hot flashes, brain fog, joint and muscle pain, and fatigue.

However, it remains unclear whether some of these symptoms may also be lingering side effects of chemotherapy, which she completed in September 2025.

Menopause can look different from woman to woman, but the medical definition remains clear. According to the National Institute on Aging, most women naturally reach menopause between ages 45 and 55.

“The average experience begins with sleep disturbances, hot flashes, night sweats, and cessation of periods. The actual medical definition of menopause is more than twelve months of no periods,” Cedars‑Sinai OB/GYN and oncologist Dr. Bobbie J. Rimel told SurvivorNet.

Thompson suspects her age was the reason doctors didn’t first think of ovarian cancer to be an issue, which is why she’s decided to share her story and encourage other young women to push for answers.

She explained further, “I want something to be done and for things to change so this doesn’t happen to other young women, who are often not listened to, leading to important things like this being missed.”

Thompson, who has since shaved her head and is confidence  saying she “rocks the look”

“I can’t sit still, I love helping others and I’m much more confident than I was before,” she said.

Back on May 8,  Thompson took to Instagram to celebrate World Ovarian Cancer Day.

Alongside photos showing her smiling and giving a thumbs-up while recovering in the hospital, she wrote, “I’ve spent today reflecting on the fact that yesterday marked a whole year since my second surgery. A whole year since 19-year-old me underwent a life-changing hysterectomy.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling looking back and realizing that a year ago today I was in the middle of the cancer treatment that saved my life, but also grieving the loss of a part of myself—my fertility, my femininity, and my identity.”

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A post shared by Enlli Thompson (@enlli_thompson)

She concluded, “I’m so glad that chapter is over now, and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting back to myself soon.”

It’s important to note that ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, like in Thompsons’s case. In fact, it has been called “the sleeping lion,” Dr. Kimberly Resnick, gynecologic oncologist at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio, previously told SurvivorNet. “It’s hard, because 75% of women who walk into our office with ovarian cancer, unfortunately, are going to walk in with advanced stage disease.”

RELATED: Ovarian Cancer Symptoms Can Be Hard to Spot

Screening For Ovarian Cancer?

Unlike some other types of cancer, such as breast cancer and colon cancer, there aren’t any routine screening tests for ovarian cancer. At the present time, there are no simple and reliable methods available that can screen for ovarian cancer in women who do not have any signs or symptoms. “We don’t have an inexpensive, easily reproducible test that we can use to prevent this disease,” says Dr. Resnick.

In fact, if a woman doesn’t have any symptoms and is not at high risk for a hereditary ovarian cancer syndrome, current recommendations say that she should not get screened. This is an across the board consensus from major medical groups and public health organizations such as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Cancer Society.

Screening of women who are at an average risk for the disease may do more harm than good, as it can lead to more testing or even unnecessary surgery. However, it is recommended that women who are at a high risk for ovarian cancer due to an inherited genetic syndrome consider getting screened.

There are tests that doctors use when they suspect a patient might have ovarian cancer, and for those who have a genetic predisposition to this cancer. These include the transvaginal ultrasound, which is an ultrasound of the female genital organs that is done internally, and a blood test called CA-125, which tests for a marker that is elevated in women with ovarian cancer. However, these are not true screening tests for ovarian cancer.

“These are tests we may use in a patient in whom we have a high suspicion of cancer, or in patients who have a genetic predisposition to the disease,” said Dr. Resnick. “But these are not screening tests to use in everyday women who walk into the office with abdominal cramps.”

Understanding Ovarian Cancer.

The standard of care for ovarian cancer patients is chemotherapy, which helps many patients reach remission.

WATCH: How your ovarian cancer responds to certain types of chemotherapies guides your future treatments.

With recurrence a strong possibility for this disease, especially in the later stages of ovarian cancer, certain drug treatments to deal with it are giving many women hope.

Maintenance therapy is continued treatment after the patient finishes their initial treatment. After an ovarian cancer patient completes a round of treatments — such as surgery and chemotherapy — her doctor may recommend some form of maintenance therapy to try and delay possible recurrence. Maintenance therapy can involve taking an oral pill called a PARP inhibitor every day after chemotherapy and can keep cancer in remission longer.

Genetic testing helps doctors determine the best maintenance therapy.

Genetic testing—analyzing a patient’s DNA or biopsy tissue—can reveal critical insights about cancer: how it forms, how it behaves, and how best to treat it.

“There are certain cancer-causing genes that can be passed down from generation to generation,” said Dr. Derrick Haslem, the director of medical oncology at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, in an earlier interview with SurvivorNet.

As researchers uncover more about these inherited mutations, they’re not only pinpointing who might be most at risk—they’re also refining how cancers are detected and treated.

When it comes to ovarian cancer, this information is especially vital.

WATCH: What genetic testing reveals about your cancer?

“There are a lot of mutations that put people at a higher risk for ovarian cancer,” says Dr. Haslem. That’s why your medical team asks about your family history—because genetic red flags can run in families. “If you have a family history of ovarian cancer or breast cancer, that’s a really important thing to bring up with your healthcare provider.”

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are among the most common genetic links to ovarian cancer. Another factor, homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), can occur in women with BRCA mutations and further disrupts the cells’ ability to repair their DNA.

If you do have a strong family history, your doctor may recommend testing for BRCA mutations or other inherited syndromes like Lynch syndrome, which can also increase risk for ovarian, colorectal, and breast cancers.

Sometimes, testing positive for a high-risk mutation may lead to conversations about preventive steps. “If you were tested and you had that gene, then somebody might talk to you about prophylactic surgery to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes,” says Dr. Haslem. This kind of preventive surgery can significantly reduce future cancer risk in those genetically predisposed.

Beyond risk assessment, genetic findings also guide treatment. “Certain chemotherapies and targeted therapies are much more effective in those types of cases,” Dr. Haslem adds. For example, PARP inhibitors—designed to block DNA repair in cancer cells—have shown strong results in patients with BRCA mutations and HRD.

Ultimately, genetic testing isn’t just about knowing your risk—it’s a tool that helps tailor treatment and potentially saves lives.

WATCH: Clinical trials can be life-saving.

Understanding Menopause

Menopause is when a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period, but it is vastly more complex than its simple definition. The average age at which a woman starts menopause is around 51. However, certain medical treatments — such as chemotherapy, radiation, surgical removal of the ovaries, or hormone-suppressing drugs used in some cancer treatments — can also induce menopause.

According to leading experts in menopausal care, menopause is a major life and health transition that can affect much more than reproductive health. Symptoms extend far beyond hot flashes and can affect nearly every aspect of a woman’s physical, emotional, and cognitive life. It can influence sleep, mood, cognition, sexual health, heart health, bone health, and overall well-being.

RELATED: Navigating Menopause: Dr. Susan Reed Shares Trusted Resources to Help Women Take Control of Their Health

“For a woman going through a natural hormonal transition, menopause, and I say natural meaning there’s no chemicals, there’s no surgery, there’s no chemotherapy, which obviously affects your patients differently,” Dr. McNally told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

“The average age in the United States is about 51 to 52, where your periods will stop. So it’s the full year without a period equals menopause. Menopausal is anything happening after, and perimenopause is the time leading up to that last period.”

Describing how the transition, for many women, can actually be a more challenging time, she says: “The perimenopausal transition has a lot more erratic changes in hormones where the eggs, the follicles that are still there may or may not ovulate. So this trigger from your brain, the hypothalamus, talking to your ovaries to get that egg matured and released is what triggers these hormonal changes.”

“And it’s like an accordion,” she added. “Things get really close to together in terms of a lot of eggs happening all at once and getting released. You’re getting a period, and then it spaces out. And it’s that transition. When you start skipping cycles, that’s really one of those signs that let you know you’re moving towards that menopausal piece, meaning one full year without a period.”

Dr. McNally explained that irregular periods are only one small part of what’s happening during perimenopause and menopause.

“Hormones are not just from your ovaries, they’re from your brain,” she said. “They’re circulating through your body. So the way that your body changes from perimenopause to menopause, it’s going to be individualized, it’s going to vary, and it’s going to affect every single aspect of your body.”

When it comes to the changes that arise in menopause and perimenopause, Dr. McNally said those changes can affect “everything.”

“It is starting at the head from mood to energy, to cognition, brain fog,” she said. “There could be a decline in word recall or the quickness in that perimenopausal transition—very well studied. It can lead to poor sleep, poor libido, poor coping mechanisms and hot flashes [a vasomotor symptom]. And that is actually a trigger from your brain.”

Why Self-Advocacy in Healthcare Can Be Life-Saving

When patients actively advocate for their health, it can lead to earlier diagnoses, broader treatment options, and ultimately better outcomes—especially when initial symptoms are overlooked or dismissed.

Part of this advocacy means not settling for a single medical opinion. Persistence matters: revisiting your doctor, pushing for answers, and seeking additional perspectives from other healthcare providers can be crucial steps in the journey.

WATCH: The value of getting a second opinion

Getting another opinion may also help you avoid doctor biases. For example, some surgeons own radiation treatment centers. “So there may be a conflict of interest if you present to a surgeon who is recommending radiation because there is some ownership of that type of facility,” Dr. Jim Hu, director of robotic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet.

Other reasons to get a second opinion include:

• To see a doctor who has more experience treating your type of cancer
• You have a rare type of cancer
• There are several ways to treat your cancer
• You feel like your doctor isn’t listening to you, or isn’t giving you sound advice
• You have trouble understanding your doctor
• You don’t like the treatment your doctor is recommending, or you’re worried about its possible side effects
• Your insurance company wants you to get another medical opinion
• Your cancer isn’t improving on your current treatment

WATCH: The Importance Of Getting A Second Opinion: Tara Lessard Shares Her Cancer Story.

Questions for Your Doctor

If you’ve been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and are looking for ways to better understand your disease and treatment options, here are some key questions to bring to your doctor.

You can also turn to SurvivorNet’s proprietary AI tool, “My Health Questions,” which helps patients and caregivers navigate a new diagnosis and prepare thoughtful, personalized questions for their care team.

• What type of ovarian cancer do I have?
• What stage is my cancer in?
• Do you recommend I get genetic testing for any gene mutations, such as the BRCA gene mutation?
• What initial treatment options do you recommend?
• What are the possible side effects of the recommended treatment, and how can they be coped with?
• Will insurance help cover my recommended treatment?

WATCH: A New Wave of Cancer Patients Using SurvivorNet’s My Health AI Tools For Support

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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