25-Year-Old Woman’s Bloating Turned Out To Be Ovarian Cancer. She Regrets Not Getting Checked Sooner & Admits ‘It’s Been Quite a Journey But I Survived’

Sirkiä’s scooter accident, which caused her to hit her stomach when she fell, made the young woman think that the initial pain in she felt in her abdomen and fainting spells were due to how she hit the ground.

Speaking to Jam Press in a recent interview, according to The Mirror, Sirkiä explained, “The ultrasound showed that there was a tumor in my ovary that had caused a cyst. [When I fell], it burst. They took five liters of fluid out of my stomach with a tube.

“At first, doctors said that the tumour was neither benign nor malignant. But two months later, I got a call [telling me] that malignant cancer was appearing in my abdominal cavity in the form of mucus.”

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She also noted how the tumor in her ovary was approximately 14cm in diameter, adding, that her doctors suspected it had been inside her “for a while considering it was that big already.”

Once she received her diagnosis, Sirkiä’s began a “cytostatic” chemotherapy treatment and surgery to remove the tumor, in addition to one of her ovaries.

However, along with being allergic to the medication she was first given and having to change the drugs, she also experienced hair loss during treatment.

Sirkiä, who concluded her treatment on December 31, 2024, said,” My hair fell out and my friend cut the rest off. It was a tough place [to be in] and [it] felt like the end of the world [at the time] but I’m happy with how well the treatments went.”

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However, followup testing showed she had another tumor in in her lungs, something she”ll soon get surgically removed.

Recounting her overall experience with cancer, Sirkiä, who hopes to return to work as a nursing home kitchen assistant this month, explained, “It’s been quite a journey but I survived. I’m proud of myself. I got over the fact that I don’t have any hair and luckily it will start growing back soon.

“I never thought at any point that I was sick, I lived a normal life and was completely symptom-free the whole time. Everything came as a surprise.”

She continued, “Of course, I regret not going to the doctor earlier about the swelling in my stomach. It’s lucky that I fell in the accident, otherwise this [might not] have been found and it [could] have been too late.

“I hope life smiles at me this year and there won’t be any more bad news.”

Learning About Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer has been called the “cancer that whispers,” because women often don’t experience symptoms until their cancer has already reached its late stages.

The symptoms that do appear at first are hard to identify as cancer. This subtlety of symptoms makes it essential for women to know the warning signs, and report them to their doctor.

The term ovarian cancer refers to a number of different tumors that grow in the ovary. The ovaries produce the sex hormone, estrogen, as well as eggs. Every woman has two ovaries, one on either side of her uterus. The fallopian tube picks up the egg from the ovary and carries it to the uterus for fertilization.

WATCH: ‘There are now more options to treat ovarian cancer than ever before’

Many ovarian cancers actually begin in the fallopian tubes. A few cancerous cells first grow on the fallopian tubes and then, as the fallopian tubes brush over the ovary, these cells stick to the ovaries and eventually grow to form a tumor.

There isn’t just one ovarian cancer; there are many different types that occur at different stages of life. In fact, researchers have identified over 30 types, but these three are the most common:

• Epithelial. About 90% of ovarian cancers are epithelial, which means the cancer cells are located on the outer layer of the ovary. Most epithelial tumors are not cancerous, but when they are cancerous, they can spread before they’re detected.
• Stromal. This rare type of tumor forms in the connective tissue that holds the ovary together and produces estrogen and progesterone.
• Germ cell. These tumors, which develop in the cells that produce the eggs, are more likely to affect a single ovary, rather than both ovaries. When a teen or young woman is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, it’s usually the germ cell type. The good news is that most women with these types of ovarian cancers can be cured.

According to SurvivorNet team of medical experts, the symptoms of ovarian cancer can include:

• A feeling of bloating or fullness
• Pain in the pelvis or abdomen
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Changes in bowel habits
• Bleeding from the vagina (especially after menopause)
• Unusual discharge from the vagina
• Pain or pressure in the pelvis
• Belly or back pain
• Feeling full too quickly, or having difficulty eating
• A change in urinary or bowel habits, such as a more frequent or urgent need to urinate and/or constipation
• Extreme fatigue
• Pain during sex

“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.”

How Is Ovarian Cancer Graded and Staged?

Ovarian cancer is officially staged and graded through surgery to determine its extent. and can be divided into three grades of aggressiveness. The grade is not determined by the size or stage of the tumor, but rather by the behavior of the cells in the tumor.

• Grade 1 cells are the least aggressive cancer because they look most like normal ovarian tissue and are well-differentiated. Grade one ovarian cancer is less likely to spread.
• Grade 2 cells are mildly aggressive.
• Grade 3 cells are the most aggressive form of ovarian cancer and are poorly differentiated. They have a large nucleus or cell center. They divide very quickly and no longer look like normal, healthy cells. This type of cancer is most likely to spread.

Ovarian cancer can also be classified into four different stages, regardless of grade:

• Stage 1: The cancer is found only in one or both ovaries.
• Stage 2: The cancer has spread to other areas of the pelvis.
• Stage 3: The cancer has spread to the abdomen and other body parts in the abdominal region.
• Stage 4: The cancer spreads to regions beyond the abdomen.

Treating Ovarian Cancer

With ovarian cancer, the standard of care (whether after surgery or before) is a “very, very effective” chemotherapy, says Dr. Dana Chase, a gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology.

When ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed, according to Dr. Chase, they are usually given chemotherapy, which puts about 80% of patients into remission, at least for some time.

RELATED: What’s the Best Ovarian Cancer Treatment Path? That Depends on Several Factors

“The current treatment that we’re going to give you, the standard treatment, is in existence because thousands of women have participated in studies,” Dr. Chase notes to SurvivorNet.

After initial treatment which often involves surgery and chemotherapy, your doctor may recommend a form of maintenance therapy.

WATCH: PARP Inhibitor drug for ovarian cancer treatment

“We use some maintenance therapies with chemo and then continue them after chemo, such as Avastin while others we use after chemo, such as Olaparib,” Dr. Chase explains.

A growing number of women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer are eligible for treatment with a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors. PARP inhibitors are options for women as maintenance therapy after the first chemotherapy or platinum-sensitive recurrence or as a treatment for recurrence.

Questions for Your Doctor

If you have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and need guidance to further educate yourself on the disease and treatment, consider these questions for your doctor.

• 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?

SurvivorNet offers a comprehensive guide to ovarian cancer and features advice from some of the nation’s top gynecologic oncologists to guide you through every stage of the diagnosis and treatment process.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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