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Brandon’s Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope takes place at Shoppers Mall on Sunday starting at 12:15 p.m. Chairperson Karen Beheyt hopes the event will bring more awareness of the disease, often called the “silent killer.
With no early screening test and no cure, ovarian cancer is often called the "silent killer."
Every year, according to Ovarian Cancer Canada, more than 1,700 Canadian women die from the disease and 2,600 are newly diagnosed.
To bring awareness and raise funds for the often overlooked and under-diagnosed disease, a local group is hosting the annual Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope this weekend.
"Basically our No. 1 message is that you need to know the signs and the symptoms," said Walk of Hope chair Karen Beheyt. "Our biggest reason for fundraising is … to find an early detection test, but also to not only educate women but to educate the medical staff, medical professionals."
The cause is very close to Beheyt’s heart. Her aunt, Annette Sweetman died of the disease in 1995.
Sweetman was misdiagnosed for months.
"The doctors kept telling her there was nothing wrong with her," Beheyt said. But Sweetman knew something was wrong and kept going back. By the time she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she was already at Stage 4 and died within a year.
"I was going through my training to become a microbiology technologist at the time, and I swore some day we’d come up with an early detection test," Beheyt said. "Because a lot of people are misinformed, and they think a Pap test will diagnose them for ovarian cancer … but it wont."
A pelvic exam or a transvaginal ultrasound are diagnostic tests for ovarian cancer.
Shirley Dixon was diagnosed with the disease in March 2007.
Symptoms are often similar to other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome or a urinary tract infection.
"I thought I had a (UTI) but my results were coming back negative," Dixon said. It wasn’t until bloating occurred that a CT scan was conducted and Dixon was diagnosed.
Dixon has been off and on chemotherapy treatment ever since.
"The earlier you can detect it, the results are usually better," she said. "I wasn’t detected until I was a Stage 4, which can happen to many people."
She hopes women are becoming more aware that seemingly vague signs may point to ovarian cancer.
"Be aware of any change in their body, any different symptoms and … if they persist after three weeks, go to your doctor and if they don’t suggest it … you yourself suggest to the doctor, ‘Could it possibly be ovarian cancer?’" Dixon said.
Dixon, along with her daughter, often make educational presentations on the subject in hopes of spreading the word.
"They’ve been very successful," she said.
"It’s something that is dear to my heart, to get it out to people to look for signs, changes in your body."
The Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope takes place on Sunday. Registration starts at 12:15 p.m. inside Shoppers Mall, in front of Safeway. The walk will begin following a ribbon-cutting at 1 p.m.
Visit ovariancanada.org or ovarianknowledge.ca for more information on the disease.
» jaustin@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 8, 2012
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With no early screening test and no cure, ovarian cancer is often called the "silent killer."
Every year, according to Ovarian Cancer Canada, more than 1,700 Canadian women die from the disease and 2,600 are newly diagnosed.
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With no early screening test and no cure, ovarian cancer is often called the "silent killer."
Every year, according to Ovarian Cancer Canada, more than 1,700 Canadian women die from the disease and 2,600 are newly diagnosed.
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