HEALTHY LIVING: Let's help BEAT killer disease
NO-ONE could have escaped the media hype that surrounded Jade Goody's untimely death last year.
Although various debates raged about the rights and wrongs of such coverage, there was one thing that couldn't be argued with -
its power to get the message through about the
importance of cervical screening and of being aware of the potential symptoms of the disease.
But another women-only cancer has not attracted the same coverage.
As treatments for ovarian cancer have improved over the years thanks to research, public awareness of the condition has not gone hand in hand - meaning therapy is often only available once it's too late.
A recent survey by Ovacome, the national charity for the disease, found that nine out of ten women
diagnosed with the disease had not been aware of its symptoms, while a third had not even heard of it before being given the devastating news.
Indeed, the organisation believes many GPs and health professionals are also ignorant of the potential of some symptoms to be ovarian cancer, often dismissing them as irritable bowel syndrome or the menopause.
There is no criticism
from the charity about this - they accept that it is not
surprising since the average GP will come across
just one case of ovarian cancer in every five years.
But they want to change this - raising awarenss of the disease in women and the healthcare industry through its BEAT Ovarian Cancer campaign.
Lanched this month in National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, it spells out the three warning signs of the condition - bloating, eating less but feeling fuller and abdominal pain, as well as the importance of telling the doctor.
Survivor Lisa Beardow from Totley is backing the campaign, after having the condition twice.
The 44-year-old reflexologist was originally diagnosed in December 1997 when she was just 32.
She said it took months for her to be tested for the disease, with her GP putting her symptoms of persistent bloating, pelvic pain
and frequent trips to the loo down to irritable bowel syndrome.
Despite losing precious time in her fight against the
disease, she underwent surgery and chemotherapy which put her in remission for six years.
Devastatingly the disease returned in August 2003 - but fortunately further treatment has put her in the clear once again.
She is now determined to stop other women having to go through the same
ordeal.
Lisa said: "I didn't even know that you could get
cancer of the ovaries:
how wrong was I?
"I can't look back in anger but do ask myself would my ovaries and womb have been saved if I had known more about the disease?
"It's too late for me as I lost all my reproductive organs to cancer but what I can do is raise the awareness of the disease and the profile of it to GPs and healthcare professions."
She said she had visited her own doctors' surgery as well as five other practices and two hospitals where no information on ovarian cancer was available.
As part of its BEAT campaign, Ovacome wants women to download an awareness poster from.ovacome.org.uk and ask their GP's surgery to display it in the waiting room.
It has also produced business cards for women to
hand out explaining the symptoms.
The charity says that while treatment of ovarian cancer has been transformed in the past 20 years, public awareness of the disease has not kept pace.
Louise Bayne, chief executive, said: "Our BEAT Ovarian Cancer campaign tells every woman in the UK what to look out for: women can beat the disease if they listen to their bodies, spot subtle but distinct changes and get help at an early stage.
"At the same time Ovacome's BEAT campaign will raise the profile of the disease with GPs, who often dismiss its symptoms as irritable bowel syndrome or the menopause.
"This is not surprising when you consider that the average GP will come across just one case of ovarian cancer in five years."
She added that more needed to be done to make sure more women are able to make use of the treatments available, in turn increasing their chances of survival.
Louise said: "Things need to change.
"Ovarian cancer needs to be investigated as an option early on.
" If it is caught at the earliest stage, patients have a 90% survival rate beyond five years."
Factfile on ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynaecological cancer in the UK and affects over 6,800 women a year.
The ovaries are two small, oval-shaped organs which are part of the female reproductive system and located deep within the pelvis.
It is not known for certain what causes ovarian cancer but it is thought that it starts when the cells on the surface of the ovary do not repair themselves after ovulation.
Cancer can occur in the ovary at any age, although the most common type tends to occur in post-menopausal women: 90 per cent occur in those over the age of 45.
Cervical screening tests - known as smear tests - will not detect ovarian cancer.
Symptoms can include loss of appetite and feeling full; persistent vague indigestion, nausea; excessive gas and a bloated feeling; unexplained changes in weight and swelling in the abdomen; pain in the lower abdomen or back; changes in bowel or bladder habits; and pain during sex.
The Macmillan Cancer Support charity has created an online tool to help women who could be at risk of
inheriting ovarian or breast cancer. Visit www.macmillan.org.uk.
Visit www.ovacome.org.uk to download a BEAT poster or call 020 7299 6654 to make a charitable donation to help fight the disease.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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