Chapters Transcript Video Advanced Ovarian Cancer: New Hope The first time that I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I was 41 years old. What's really interesting about my diagnosis is that I didn't have any symptoms at all. So for ovarian cancer, there is sometimes things that you feel that are happening, but none of that was happening to me the way that I discovered it, which was really interesting was working out. I was doing a uh press over my head and I felt something snap on my neck through a series of scans is when it was discovered that I had lymphoma to later get a biopsy on my neck that uncovered that it was ovarian cancer. Much to my surprise, there's no screening for ovarian cancer. So often times when we identify a patient with ovarian cancer, we identify them at an advanced stage. So 85% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are diagnosed at stage three or four. So patients like Erica who had advanced stage will get a combination of chemotherapy. And additionally, we now have harp inhibitors that we use during maintenance to really improve the outcomes for these patients. What I had to do first as a person was get right with what was happening to me. I have a daughter who at the time was seven years old. As a parent, you begin really thinking about all the things that you may miss. So prayed a lot, did a lot of what I had to do to begin believing that I was gonna live because with the stage four diagnosis, it doesn't look too good for most people. She did great with her chemotherapy. She was always uh in a good mood and was very positive and it was a pleasure to see her and she's done very well with Doctor Diaz at Miami Cancer Institute. I had laparoscopic surgery where they removed a couple of tumors. And I also had a procedure on my neck where they removed those lymph nodes that kept on being problematic. And I was able to walk out of that surgery with just being able to have mobility, move around. But I really felt safe and I felt taken care of. And uh there was always a smile and there was always somebody to really comfort me through that period of time. It's been great to work with her, not only as a physician, patient relationship, but as our friendship has grown and I look forward to working with her in our community, help spread the word about ovarian cancer. There was like some dreams and things that I put on hold. But I think that every day I remind myself I'm like, I'm still here. I'm just gonna go do it. Created by
