Leslie Schroeder was just 49 when she began to feel sick.
“I had just been feeling a lack of energy, not having any appetite,” she recalls.
A small hint of intuition led Schroeder to her doctor. She expected to be diagnosed with a gluten allergy, instead her doctor discovered ovarian cancer.
“She told me, the ultra sound showed two masses on my ovaries and a great deal of fluid in my abdomen.”
Schroeder’s cancer was already advanced, categorized as stage 3C but while she was able to ultimately beat the odds, many women aren’t as lucky.
“The problem with ovarian cancer is that it’s quite lethal so the survival rate for woman is only around 30 per cent,” explains Dr. Lynne Postovit, an ovarian cancer researcher with the University of Alberta.
Right now doctors rely on ultrasounds to diagnose ovarian cancer but researchers are working towards developing a blood test that could one day help detect the disease sooner.
“We do have a biomarker that we use now called CA125 that is useful after a disease is detected but has a lot of false positive for early detection,” says Postovit.
It’s why researchers say funding is so important.
After two years in remission, last winter Schroeder’s cancer returned. She credits advancements in treatment options to the fact that she can now call herself a two-time ovarian cancer survivor.
“My treatment 3 years ago was so different that it was this past year, so already I’ve seen research progress. They’re making changes.”
This week, Ovarian Cancer Canada is hosting a major fundraising event in Calgary. For more information on the “Love Her” fashion show, visit: http://love-her.ca/#/calgary-2/
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