The Ovarian Cancer Coalition’s Battle Against Deadly Disease

The National Ovarian Cancer Coalition is an organisation that helps to raise money in order to battle one of the most serious and under-recognised forms of cancer affecting women today. This cancer can cause a serious threat to wellness as it is difficult to detect, and even women who are generally in tune with their wellbeing may not spot the subtle signs that they may be developing ovarian cancer, so a lot of fundraising and awareness is needed in order to help address this.

The group is holding a wine tasting event to help raise funds, and some members of the group are also running in a 5K fun run event, raising sponsorship money. This race is called the Marti Wood Stephan Ovarian Cancer Awareness 5K, named after group member Stephan’s wife Martha, who died from ovarian cancer in 2011 at the age of just 69.

Stephan, along with the others in the group, is dedicated to raising awareness of the disease, and all the money raised from this race will go towards creating some important educational pamphlets and other materials to help educate women about the risks of ovarian cancer.

It is not just ordinary members of the public who could benefit from this information either – the group aim to educate medical professionals too.

This is something that is particularly close to Stephan’s heart as when his wife, Martha, first visited the doctor with symptoms of ovarian cancer, they were dismissed as mere ‘gas’. By the time she eventually obtained a proper diagnosis some time later, the cancer had progressed to stage four and was no longer treatable.

Symptoms that the group aim to educate women about include bloating, trouble eating or feeling full quickly, pelvic or abdominal pain, upset stomach or heartburn, feeling the urge to urinate more often, fatigue, pain during sex or menstrual changes. Women who have had symptoms such as the above for more than two weeks should see their doctor.