>>Ovarian cancer is the deadliest of gynecologic cancers.
>>Mortality rates are slightly higher for African American women than for Caucasian women

MY STORY: I saw my first OBGYN doctor at approximately 17 years old.  In all the subsequent years of regular health care visits with OBGYN doctors since that time, NOT ONE discussed ovarian cancer with me.  Not the signs, not the risk factors. Nothing. I never even saw a brochure in their office or exam room. There may have been a brochure, but because I was never made aware of the severity of this disease, I didn't pay attention. 

Fast forward to me at 50 years old: I had an all-clear OB visit in December of 2019.  In February of 2020, I was diagnosed with a very large mass - that had been growing for years - in one of my ovaries.  Yet, I got an all-clear just a few short months ago!!  No, I don't place blame on others.  What I DO place blame on is the complete lack of information I received about Ovarian Cancer.  Had I been given ANY information, I would've known that the symptoms I was experiencing were a possible indication of the existence of this deadly disease. I could have known to start asking questions.  As a result, I am fighting for EVERY OBGYN doctor be required to speak to their patients about ovarian cancer. 

WHY WE NEED THIS CHANGE BECAUSE WE AREN'T TAUGHT A THING ABOUT THIS DEADLY DISEASE.  

• A woman’s lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer is 1 in 78.

• A woman’s lifetime risk of dying from invasive ovarian cancer is 1 in 108.

• Ovarian cancer survival rates are much lower than other cancers that affect women.

•  The relative five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is 49.7% percent.

• Approximately 17 percent of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed early with early stage disease.

>>The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2023, about 19,710 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed and 13,270 women will die of ovarian cancer in the United States.

• Mortality rates for ovarian cancer have declined only slightly in the forty years since the “War on Cancer” was declared. However, other cancers have shown a much greater reduction in mortality, due to many factors.
• The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program reports that in 2019 in the United States approximately 233,565 women were alive who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer (including those who had been cured of the disease).
• Ovarian cancer accounts for 2.5 percent of cancers in women.
  While the 11th most common cancer among women, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women.
• Ovarian cancer is the deadliest of gynecologic cancers.
  Mortality rates are slightly higher for African American women than for Caucasian women.

WHAT THIS CHANGE CAN MEAN::  If EVERY OBGYN is required to speak to patients about ovarian cancer, it can help tremendously. 

FIRST:  the patient is more educated and therefore can look out for the signs - or pay more attention when they're experienced. 

SECOND:  The docs are more educated about the disease and may catch more in the early stages as a result. 

THIRD: Insurance companies aren't allowed (well...we'll try) to push reproductive health for persons born with ovaries on the backburner as they do if they're not covering a yearly exam.  

FOURTH: Future generations will benefit.  What better gift to give than to help those who aren't even born yet?  

Thank you for reading this!!  Please reach out to me with any questions.  

Thank you OCRA for the statistics above.