'An insidious disease': Ovarian cancer took Maggie's daughter's life in 12 days

On Friday, Mrs Quinn shared her story with a small group of ovarian cancer survivors and those affected by ovarian cancer in an annual morning "teal" event in Lydiard Street. It has been held for more than 15 years by federal Ballarat MP Catherine King.

Mrs Quinn, dressed in teal, said it was worn to raise awareness of "an insidious disease". February is ovarian cancer awareness month.

"It's very surreptitious," she said. "The symptoms you can attribute to all female complaints."

When Louise "nipped into the Royal Melbourne Hospital" and complained of mild abdominal pain and fatigue on May 1, 2013, her tumour had reached stage three and she had surgery that evening, Mrs Quinn said.

On May 13, the 32-year-old passed away as a result of ovarian cancer.

"It was a horrible time," Mrs Quinn said.

"The massive ovarian cancer ran through all of her intestines, her diaphragm, her uterus, and her bowel. Everywhere."

Mrs Quinn said after Louise's death, her family and the Royal Women's Hospital began the Giving Gold for Lou fundraiser in response to her daughter's request to promote research, understanding and education about ovarian cancer.

Only 31 per cent of Australians know that ovarian cancer has the poorest survival rate of any female cancer in the country, according to Ovarian Cancer Australia.

Standing with her mum's old friends on Friday was Marlee Wallis, who came to the morning teal for the first time.

Her mum attended every year but was sadly absent this year. Last November, her mum, 65, died 20 years after her first diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

"I remembered she started off having pains in her stomach. And then got diagnosed," said Ms Wallis, who was 13-years-old at the time.

Ms Wallis said Friday's event was "pretty special".

"These people kept my mum going with support," she said. She told The Courier she would come next year in her mum's memory to raise awareness.

Speaking to the group, Ms King said for more than 15 years they had "talked about it", and raised money and awareness, to change the fact that the survival rate for this cancer remains far lower than other women's cancers.

"Each year we gathered people who have been touched by ovarian cancer either through a loss of a loved one or through ovarian cancer themselves," she said.

"Women really need to listen to their bodies and if they are really feeling as though something is not right, to really pursue and persevere with their GPs to try and get to the bottom of what's happening."

She said that it is very important for women to recognise and understand the symptoms of ovarian cancer as they are very similar to women's daily experience, for example, bloating, pelvic pain and frequency of urination.

"If we can help ensure that one woman in our community gets diagnosed early and gets treatment then we will have done a good job," said Ms King.

The morning teal comes just before the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute's annual Cycle Classic, which raises money for cancer research in Ballarat.