Five metro women want to raise “owareness” about ovarian cancer, which kills more than 15,500 U.S. women annually.
They include a 57-year-old mother of two adult children, who is currently battling the disease; the daughter of an ovarian cancer victim who herself underwent a total hysterectomy and double mastectomy to protect herself from cancer; and a woman whose cousin died of ovarian cancer.
The group has organized the “Owareness Event for Ovarian Cancer” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive N.W. to raise awareness and provide information about risk factors, early signs and treatment of ovarian cancer.
Speakers include Dr. Benedict B. Benigno, director of gynecologic oncology at Northside Hospital and founder of the Ovarian Cancer Institute; and Dr. Ira R. Horowitz of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.
“We’re shouting about the cancer that whispers,” said Gay Lenner, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer 17 months ago and whose fight inspired the event. “I want people to know what I didn’t know.”
Ovarian cancer, Benigno said, is the most lethal of all gynecological cancers with a very high recurrence rate. “It’s unusual to encounter this disease in Stage 1,” he said. Finding it in Stage 1, he said, means the patient is “very lucky.”
One in every 71 U.S. women will develop the disease in their lifetimes, according to the American Cancer Society.
Half of all cases of ovarian cancer occur in women who are over the age of 63. Risk factors include obesity, use of certain hormone and fertility drugs; and a family history of ovarian, breast or colorectal cancer.
But women who have had children have a lower risk of getting the disease, as well as those using birth control pills, if taken for more than five years, according to the cancer society.
Lenner, who lives in Cobb County, was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer in April 2011. She realizes now that the symptoms were there; she just didn’t know what they were.
She experienced bloating, fatigue, pain and frequent urination. At first, Lenner thought she was going through menopause. Her symptoms, however, were enough to concern a physician’s assistant. Lenner has had four surgeries in a year and a half. She is now undergoing chemotherapy. That hasn’t stopped her from trying to reach out to help other women.
Benigno said women should take charge of their health and insist on pelvic exams and pelvic ultrasounds. “The pap smear is useless in the diagnosis of cancer in the ovaries,” he said.
Melanie Zucker, whose mother died of ovarian cancer, was so worried about getting the disease she had a genetic test. When tests came back positive for the BRCA gene, which is linked to certain cancers, she decided to take action by having a hysterectomy and double mastectomy.
“I haven’t’ looked back,” said Zucker, who is part of the organizing group. “I’ve been looking forward since then.”
Owareness Event for Ovarian Cancer
7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Temple Sinai, 5645 Dupree Drive N.W.
The event is free
