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Ovarian cancer awareness

Letter to the Editor for August 26, 2010 edition

(Updated: Friday, August 27, 2010, 12:59 PM)

Dear Editor,

About 15,000 women are expected to die of ovarian cancer this year and 21,000 women will be diagnosed with the disease.

If ovarian cancer is treated before it has spread outside the ovary, the 5-year survival rate is 93%, but at the moment only 19% of ovarian cancers are found at such an early stage. And still, no reliable early detection test exists for ovarian cancer.

A woman's best defense is knowing the symptoms -- such as bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, frequent or urgent need to urinate and difficulty eating or feeling full quickly.

Until there's an early detection test available, women and their health care providers need to be able to recognize the warning signs. Policymakers have to do their part by advocating for expanded federal research that could help lead to a cure, or at least a much needed screening test.

The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance has asked each state house in the country to help "Turn America Teal" by pledging to promote ovarian cancer research and raising awareness so that everyone knows the symptoms of ovarian cancer.

September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month during which time my fellow survivors and I will be wearing teal or teal ribbons in a show of support. This September, I am pledging my allegiance to the "United States of Teal" and you should too.

As an almost 10-year survivor of late stage ovarian cancer, I can say that I am among the very few that are lucky enough to survive. The mortality rates are extremely high when ovarian cancer is diagnosed in the late stages.

Early detection is key to long-term survival. Let us do all we can to catch ovarian cancer in the early stages where it is most treatable.

Kendal Seidel, Oakhurst