Mum was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. She just started chemo & shaves her head next week. You can join in and donate to NZGCF.
Auckland
We’re turning a bad day into a good one to raise some funds for NZGCF and support mum to shave her head on Wednesday 4th July.
We are still getting our heads around the fact this is happening. If you know mum you know she is young fit always busy and looks after herself so this was a BIG shock to say the least.
Last month mum went to the GP, nothing major there but later that night she got an acute pain in her tummy. Four days in hospital, a CT scan and ultrasound and a week later she was undergoing major surgery. We had a long 12 day wait to hear the results we were dreading...
"I’m so sorry, you have cancer"
Googling "Ovarian cancer" was probably the worst thing I could have done, because the first thing I read is that only 39% of women survive after 5 years (to put this into perspective, this compares to 87% for breast cancer).
I was horrified to read there are no screening tools for this devastating cancer. My mum had done all the right things - had a mammogram in March, pap smear and flu jobs in April, went to the GP and had her scheduled checks and blood tests. She had no reason to suspect she had this and even if she had the only way to check for ovarian cancer is for a doctor to request a specific tumour marker test called a CA125 or an ultrasound.
The last thing mum wants to do is shave her head, but on or around next Friday all of her hair including brows, eyelashes, body hair is going to fall out anyway, it’s a side effect of the carboplatin paclitaxel chemotherapy she started last week.
We'll do our best to make a bad day good on Wednesday!
The Gynaecological Cancer Foundation works to raise awareness of symptoms and support cancer patients. We would love if you would donate any amount of money to this deserving cause.
We would also love to thank everyone for the love and support they have shown our family over the last month. Every message, card, bouquet of flowers, and bowl of soup has been appreciated.
Thank you so much, from our family to yours.
Liv x
My mum was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in May 2018. This page aims to raise money to go toward the NZ Gynaecological Cancer Foundation for further research and better screening tools.
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