I was so bloated I looked nine months’ pregnant – eating was agony but no one connected the dots
OVARIAN cancer has long been dubbed a “silent killer” because symptoms are frequently confused with other less serious conditions.
Almost 7,500 women are diagnosed with the devastating disease every year in the UK — and 4,000 of them die from it.
Sufferers who visit their GP with bloating and pain are often told they have constipation.
And under-50s are often dismissed as being too young to have ovarian cancer.
This is a scenario Hannah Lane, 39, from Huddersfield, knows only too well.
As Ovarian Cancer Month kicks off, this is her devastating story . . .
Hannah had already had her children, Nieve, eight and Bobby, four, when she became so bloated she looked nine months pregnant again.
Finding it painful to eat, she visited her GP, only to be told it was likely stress-induced constipation and that at 35 years old she was too young for it to be anything more serious.
Hannah recalls: “I was in agony if I ate anything and was struggling to bend over, with spells of dizziness, feeling uncomfortable and looking pregnant, but no one had connected the dots.
“When I was finally told it was stage three cancer, my initial thought was, ‘Am I going to die?’ but I was relieved to get an answer.
“I’m proof ovarian cancer doesn’t just affect older ladies.”
After a hen do in April 2019, Hannah assumed a weekend of skipping fruit and vegetables was the cause of her discomfort.
Then, in June, she went out for dinner to celebrate her then partner’s birthday but struggled to eat a thing.
At Huddersfield Royal Infirmary hospital, a scan revealed her abdomen was severely impacted and she was prescribed laxatives.
For the next six months, Hannah visited her GP regularly, begging for help.
When a Google search of her symptoms flagged ovarian cancer, she mentioned it to a nurse, but was told it was irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
By September, her GP suggested checking for Crohn’s disease.
Hannah says: “I got the call to come back to the doctor’s surgery and my heart dropped.
“I was told I needed a two-week urgent referral to be checked for ovarian cancer.
“I was screaming at my partner on the phone, saying: ‘The doctors think that I have cancer.’
“After a CT scan, the gynaecologist told me it was likely cancer.
“I walked out, leaned on the wall and slumped to the floor.”
In October 2019, Hannah had 9lb of fluid, which had gathered round the mass, drained from her abdomen to relieve her bloating and pain.
Meanwhile, a biopsy confirmed stage-three, low-grade ovarian cancer, which would require chemotherapy and a hysterectomy.
Hannah wouldn’t be able to have more children and would be plunged into surgical menopause.
She was also warned that if part of her bowel and spleen needed removing during the operation, she would also need a stoma — an opening on the abdomen to allow waste to be diverted out of the body.
She says: “I was upset that my choice of having more children was taken away from me with the hysterectomy, but I’d do anything to see Bobby and Nieve grow up.”
While the chemo didn’t shrink the cancer, it did halt its growth and Hannah underwent surgery in December 2019.
The surgeons performed the hysterectomy, removed 99 per cent of the cancer along with her bowel, spleen and cut some of her stomach.
Hannah lost so much blood during the eight-and-a-half-hour operation that she needed three transfusions and doctors feared that they were losing her.
Thankfully she pulled through and a CT scan in February 2020 revealed that Hannah had no signs of cancer in her body.
She says: “It was a blur. I was thinking: ‘I’m not going to die!’
“I’d gone from thinking Bobby was going to grow up with no memories of me, to being told the cancer was gone.”
But 12 months later, Hannah started experiencing more pain in her stomach.
Her GP thought it was unrelated to the ovarian cancer and suggested surgery on her gallbladder.
But when Hannah woke up from the operation in December 2020, her surgeon told her they were unable to operate as her cancer had returned.
Hannah says: “My world shattered, as even after a huge surgery and long recovery I was still going to die.
“But when the surgeon showed me the photographs, I felt relieved, it was actually just a few dots [of cancer].”
Hannah was prescribed Letrozole, a hormone suppressor used for breast cancer, and will be on medication for life.
She says: “I’m taking one day at a time.
“I don’t think too far into the future but I enjoy every day and the simplest moments.
“Doctors say they’ve seen women with this cancer live for 15 years, so I’m excited about making everyday memories with my family.
“I can’t wait to take the kids on their yearly caravan holiday this summer.”
Hannah started an Instagram page, @noovariesandastoma, to raise awareness and stop people thinking ovarian cancer is just a postmenopausal cancer.
She says: “Support groups I was offered only had women over 60 and I couldn’t relate.
“I felt so alone during my treatment and surgery.
“I wanted to find others who had been through it too.”
She adds: “It is possible to live with cancer and to live a full life while on treatment.
“I want women to know ovarian cancer isn’t an ‘old lady’ cancer.
“Look out for symptoms and always follow your instincts.”
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
SIGNS of ovarian cancer aren’t always obvious and, unfortunately, it can be diagnosed late as a result.
Anyone who has ovaries can get the disease, but it tends to affect over-50s.
According to the NHS, common symptoms include frequently – 12 or more times a month – experiencing a swollen tummy, pain or tenderness in your abdomen or pelvis, no appetite or feeling full quickly after eating, an urgent need to pee or peeing more often.
Other symptoms include lethargy, indigestion, constipation or diarrhoea, back pain and losing weight without trying.
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, see your GP.