[2023-05-08] World Ovarian Cancer Day 2023

Every year, on May 8, we mark World Ovarian Cancer Day.

It is estimated that 1 in 75 Canadians with ovaries will develop ovarian cancer in their lifetime. I am one of them.

My journey began on July 29, 2020, when a doctor in the emergency department at my local hospital told me that I had ovarian cancer. Eight days later, I took medical leave from my job and began narrating my cancer journey in my blog, Jenesis.

This year, in honour of World Ovarian Cancer Day, I decided to share that journey through pictures:
  1. 2020-08-04 — Six days after learning I had ovarian cancer, I married my common-law husband of 30 years. Chris and I were wed on our deck, under an umbrella in the rain, with only our kids, Shane and Mel, in attendance.
  2. 2020-08-30 — Two days after surgery to remove my fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, cervix and numerous cancerous tumors, I recovered in hospital. The tube into my stomach and a catheter were removed later that day.
  3. 2020-10-01 — A month after surgery, I had my first chemotherapy treatment.
  4. 2020-10-26 — With my hair starting to come out by the handful, I asked my husband to give me a buzz cut. It turned out better than I had expected—an improvement over my COVID hair.
  5. 2021-01-07 — I learned that eyebrows and eyelashes are the last hair to go and the first to return. Though I had little hair after my fifth round of chemotherapy, my smile endured.
  6. 2021-01-14 — I had my sixth and final chemotherapy treatment and rang the bell of hope. I was alone in the hospital, as I had been throughout my treatments because of COVID, but I was never truly alone, cheered on by countless people.
  7. 2021-03-19 — Two months after completing chemotherapy and one month after starting a maintenance drug to avoid a recurrence of my ovarian cancer, I looked forward to the International Day of Happiness and spring.
  8. 2021-09-12 — One year after beginning treatment for ovarian cancer, I participated in my first Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope, walking with my children in the morning and my sister in the afternoon.

Today, a friend wrote to me to say:

I do a daily (weekdays) What’s Today? post for the team at work. I noted that, on top of being Reward Yourself Day, National Coconut Cream Pie Day, and David Attenborough's birthday, it is also World Ovarian Cancer Day. I let the team know about your wonderful blog and included a link to it.

I was so touched by his gesture. Ovarian cancer is not a light subject—definitely not fun like Reward Yourself Day, National Coconut Cream Pie Day, and David Attenborough's birthday—but it is a part of life for the approximately 3,100 Canadians diagnosed with the disease each year and for their loved ones.

I am aware that my story of ovarian cancer is not a typical one (as if there were such a thing), with cancer recurrence more common than not. That's why we need more research to better detect this disease, to better treat this disease, and to ultimately cure this disease.