Two women share their experiences with Ovarian Cancer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and Ovarian Cancer is the fifth deadliest cancer among women.

Paula Gibson was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer when she was 64. At first, she thought she had back pain from the physical work she did with children. She actually had stage 3 cancer.

"So I kind of put it on the back burner and I shouldn't have," said Gibson. "It probably would have been less severe had I gone sooner. And that's why I encourage women today, if they feel like they have any symptoms or don't feel normal, to go to the gynecologist right away."

Nancy Cowan, who has stage 3 Ovarian Cancer, also noticed back pain before she got diagnosed.

"I had no energy and I've always been an active person who worked out at least once a day, and a lot of times twice a day, and my energy level dropped to absolutely nothing," said Cowan. "Then I started getting severe pains in my back and in my sides and so I went to my general practitioner, and they decided I needed a CT a CT exam. When I took that exam, it showed that I was loaded with ovarian cancer.

Dr. Nora MacZura, a Gynecological Oncologist at the Springfield Clinic, says Ovarian Cancer doesn't usually get diagnosed right away because its symptoms are common in other illnesses. She says to look out for a reduced appetite or feeling full sooner, bloating, a change in your bathroom routine, or unexplained back pain.

"Symptoms are usually showing in advanced stage because the tumor has spread from the over the fallopian tube into the abdomen is causing GI symptoms," said Dr. MacZura. "The best recommendations that we have for patients is to be self aware of your symptoms to make sure that you follow up regularly with your doctors to get regular pelvic exams. And through that avenue we can hopefully pick up on things a little bit sooner than we would have otherwise.

Dr. MacZura also says women tend to have misconceptions about preventative measures for the disease. She emphasized the pap smears cannot test for Ovarian Cancer. While this testing can detect Cervical Cancer, it cannot spot cancer in your ovaries.

"In the realm of ovarian cancer, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of good ways to pick up on it early," said Dr. MacZura. "Unfortunately, we do not have a good screening test for ovarian cancer."

Dr. MacZura said there is not enough research done on the cancer and the impacts it has on women after their diagnosis. There is genetic testing that can determine if you have a marker for Ovarian Cancer, but not all patients have the genes.

After her diagnosis, Gibson found out she had the BRCA 1 gene, meaning she was genetically predisposed to having Breast or Ovarian Cancer. She got this gene from her father.

"My four sisters were negative, my brother was positive, my daughter is negative," explained Gibson. "My son is positive. That's hard for me to accept. Because I pass that to him. But on the good part of that, because of preventative medicine, he is watched carefully as is my brother for any signs of any problems at all."

Both Gibson and Cowan said Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is critical to spread information about the diagnosis and show support for those fighting it.

"It's really important," said Cowan. "You see a lot of bright pink and what that's done for breast cancer is amazing. So hopefully to will bring us to that point someday, I hope I can only hope and pray it does."