THEIR paths are all dramatically different - that is a tough part of this silent killer, the subtle and varying ways it can take hold. For Ballarat women, Karen Walsh, Christine Christie and Helen Weir awareness and vigilant "ovary-action" from women is vital when it comes to their health.
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Ovarian cancer has changed their lives but they hope in telling their story for World Ovarian Cancer Day to make other women more aware for a disease with no early screening - and they want to note, pap smears screen for cervical cancer, not ovarian cancer.
Helen says she is a classic case.
Three years ago Helen felt a bump on her belly and thought it was a hernia before her doctor ordered urgent tests. Helen had no idea what ovarian cancer was and was quickly facing surgery and chemotherapy.
When cancer returned, gradually, Helen knew exactly what it was. Helen had to give up her volunteer role, helping other cancer patients at Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre, for second-line chemo - and has one round to go.
Helen has lost her hair a second time but her hairdresser helps to style her wig.
"I'm a bit of a glass half-full person," Helen said. "But I could actually feel something was wrong...markers started to creep up in my testing ad then you realise you have ovarian cancer again. I had thought it wouldn't come back to me, I'd got rid of it, but it did."
The trio say community awareness is steadily improving, helped by storylines in television shows like Neighbours putting ovarian cancer in the spotlight with beloved characters.
Knowing family history was crucial for Christie and Karen.
Genetic testing, thrust in the global spotlight by Angelina Jolie, saved Christie's life.
Christie had long-sought a test for the BRCA gene mutation and it was not until 2014, with the technology finally available in Australia, that it confirmed what she had long suspected.
Christie chose to have a preventative hysterectomy and ovaries removed, aged 48, only to learn eight weeks later she had stage one ovarian cancer - a tumor in her Fallopian tube.
In the two years since The Courier last met Christie, both her daughters have also opted to be tested. One carries the gene and one does not.
"The one who has it, was always going to have it, but knowing has allowed her to move forward and be more aware," Christie said. "She knows what she will have to do in planning for her future."
Karen was being treated for irritable bowel syndrome but persisted for testing because there was a family history of cancer.
Ovarian cancer symptoms for Karen, aged in her 40s, presented as feeling full after a small meal or vomiting after eating.
Karen's family carries Lynch syndrome, a pre-disposition to lots of cancer. Her brother survived cancer while a nephew was diagnosed with bowel cancer and died one year later.
Out of her five siblings, one does not carry Lynch syndrome.
"It's very confronting for some of us. I tell everyone about it because I want there to be greater awareness," Karen said. "...Ovarian cancer is so different, so varied, that no two women have the same experience or symptoms and that can make it so hard for awareness."
Karen had a full hysterectomy in 2014 with six months of chemotherapy and has been in remission since.
She started a support group via Facebook for Ballarat women to help bring all those affected by ovarian and related cancers across the region together.
In her volunteering, Helen met a woman with cancer in her Fallopian tube, who felt isolated and unsure how she fit into the bigger picture.
Helen, Christie and Karen said essentially, they have all been touched by the same kind of tumour, the same cancer cells with the same mode of spread and methods for treatment.
This was why it was so important to be aware how it might start out.
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