Heather lives in Muskegon, and was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma, hypercalcemic type. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? My local doctors shoved it off as pregnancy symptoms or being a hypochondriac. I was “too young” to have ovarian cancer. I was having awful pain and vomiting while … Continued
Renee lives in Cadillac, and was diagnosed with carcinosarcoma. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? I became frustrated when I was not given much information from my gynecologic oncology team about my cancer. I had to resort to the internet to learn about it. Although my rare type … Continued
Jill lives in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was diagnosed with grade 3, stage IVB squamous cell carcinoma. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? Relaying the severity of my diagnosis to family/friends is incredibly frustrating. I understand the need to focus on the positive, but realistically speaking, there are no … Continued
B. Dana Kivel has a plea to the ovarian cancer community, to medical professionals, to the world: “See me. Listen to me. I’m one of the people, the tens of thousands of people who have metastatic ovarian cancer.” But while Dana has a gendered gynecologic cancer, their gender identity does not align with what one would … Continued
At first glance, Jonathan Sockolosky and Andrew Berger, may seem like they have very little in common. Jonathan lives in San Francisco and is a scientist, while Andrew lives in New York, and works in the finance industry. Different as they appear, there is one thing that unites them: their connection to ovarian cancer. Both … Continued
Sridevi Challa, PhD, an OCRA grantee at UT Southwestern, is on the receiving end of some major accolades. She is the lead author of a study that dozens of news outlets are describing as having found the “Achilles’ Heel” of ovarian cancer cells. This opens the door for new research in biomarkers and the development … Continued
Ready, set, action! This group of OCRA Heroes has taken those words to heart by using their creative talents to make a concrete difference for the ovarian cancer community. In recent months, classical singers Phoebe Haines and Rachel Elezi, playwright/director Peter Schmidt, and gamer John Donzelli all harnessed the power of the digital medium to … Continued
Tracy lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and was diagnosed with stage IV germ cell ovarian cancer at age 27. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? I was diagnosed with stage 4 germ cell ovarian cancer eight years ago at age 27. I was devastated and felt like my entire … Continued
Ingrid lives in Denver, Colorado, and was diagnosed with low grade serous ovarian cancer in 2019. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? I was diagnosed in January of 2019 with low grade serous ovarian cancer. My doctor said she had to look on Facebook to learn about this … Continued
Janice lives in NW Pennsylvania, and was diagnosed in 1997, at age 34, with stage II retiform sertoli-leydig cell ovarian cancer with mucinous heterologous elements. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? My frustration was getting my rare cell type identified correctly, then finding out the protocol was experimental. Where … Continued
Sally lives in Mechanicsville, VA, and was diagnosed with a granulosa cell tumor. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? The most frustrating thing for me is that there is no standard of care and very little research. So little is known about granulosa cell tumor that one of … Continued
Anne lives in Morton, PA, and was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type. What has been your frustration in having a rare form of ovarian cancer? My frustration with having a rare form of ovarian cancer is the lack of doctors with knowledge and/or experience in treating women with SCCOHT. I … Continued
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