Ovarian cancer is quietly killing Australian women with 1500 diagnosis this year
It has the lowest survival rate of any women’s cancer and it takes an average of 32 weeks for a diagnosis - Ovarian cancer is quietly killing Australian women, leading to renewed calls for more to be done.
VIC News
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Women with ovarian cancer wait an average of 32 weeks for a diagnosis.
And new data reveals that a shocking 1500 Australian women will be diagnosed with the disease this year.
It comes amid renewed calls for more cancer research and funding. There is no early detection for ovarian cancer and symptoms are relatively common, meaning they can be hard to pinpoint.
It also has the lowest survival rate of any women’s cancer, and long diagnosis periods mean many may not receive treatment until the cancer is in advanced stages.
Ovarian Cancer Australia chief executive Jane Hill is calling for more to be done to stop about 1000 women dying from the disease each year.
“This disease is taking our grandmothers, mothers, daughters, wives and sisters,” she said. “Together, we can change the story of ovarian cancer for future generations.”
At just 16, a cancer diagnosis was the last thing Alannah Chatman could have imagined. Told she had ovarian dysgerminoma — a form of the cancer — in August last year, the Melbourne teen went from a happy, healthy year 10 student to aggressive treatment within a few months.
She underwent chemotherapy and laparotomy surgery to remove her right ovary and fallopian tube.
But like many women, because her symptoms were so “normal” it took months for Alannah to see a doctor.
“I had had sort of small symptoms for about six months — just some cramping and leg pain and migraines, just things that you wouldn’t connect,” she said.
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Alannah is just one of the four Australian women diagnosed with ovarian cancer every day. Fewer than half of them will survive the five years after the diagnosis.
She is now in remission and has returned school, but her family is calling for more to be done to stop the disease.