High School Senior Dismissed Sharp Pain After Eating As ‘Sensitive Stomach’— It Turned Out To Be Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer

Now, 19 and a student at UMass Amherst in Massachusettes, she’s shared her story with Forbes, Ortiz recounted suffering from intense pain after eating, saying, “I’d drink milk and curl my body in search of relief … It just kept getting worse.”

Following a change in her diet, which didn’t help her stomach issues, her doctor continued to say she’s “young” and “looks healthy.” Still, she kept pushing for answers and eventually got a referral to a gastroenterologist.

Before seeing a gastroenterologist, Ortiz suffered from more severe pain, promoting her mom to take her to the emergency room, where CT scan was done which found multiple “masses.”

It turned out to be ovarian cancer, low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (LGSOC) is a type of slow-growing gynecologic cancer.

Ovarian Cancer Overview

“Low-grade serous ovarian and peritoneal cancer (LGSOC) is a type of ovarian cancer that disproportionately affects younger women and has poor response rates to chemotherapy. It is usually found after the cancer has spread to other parts of the body when it is more challenging to treat,” according to the Low Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Initiative.

In Ortiz’s case, she underwent surgery and chemotherapy, both which weren’t enough to successfully combat the disease, which she continues to fight.

However, she wishes she’d pushed for answers sooner, telling Forbes, If I had known what to look for … if someone had told me, maybe I wouldn’t have waited so long.”

Despite admitting that “cancer has taken everything from me,” Ortiz told Forbes she’s studying to be a physician and continuing to tell others about the warning signs of ovarian cancer.

Also sharing her story with Boston25 News, Ortiz said, “I just had a stomach ache. It wasn’t anything crazy. I was in a lot of pain. But I never would have thought that I would have cancer, ever.

Ortiz, who is impressively on the Dean’s List at UMass Amherst, focusing on pre-med, and EMT training, added, “I don’t feel like the disease is holding me back, so it’s definitely important to keep going.

“It can only take so much. I didn’t want it to take my whole life.”

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.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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