Ovarian Cancer Awareness – do you know the signs?

Persistent digestive problems might be a sign of ovarian cancer, warns a leading support charity during awareness month for the disease this March

Retired lawyer Iris Marr wants to help spread the message that digestive problems might actually be related to ovarian cancer, a disease that she was diagnosed with in autumn 2016, after initial symptoms of three weeks of constipation.

Iris, aged 66, who lives in Manningtree in Essex with her husband Steve, was initially referred to a gastroenterologist by her GP. Looking back the only other symptom she had was fatigue to indicate that anything was wrong.

But a week after seeing her GP, her condition worsened with severe bloating, which affected her breathing and she was fast-tracked for a scan four days later. This set the process in motion for her being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 2016, and she later discovered she had stage 3 disease.

Iris has taken a break from treatment which has left her disease stable, but the resulting joint pain and fatigue means that she can no longer enjoy walking her dog, or tending her 170ft garden. Instead she has turned to art as a hobby and has a passion to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

“Such minor issues as constipation can easily be overlooked,” says Iris. “I didn’t ignore it. I delayed seeing a doctor only for three weeks from the day I recognised it was a problem,” she adds.

“Looking back over earlier diary entries there were some comments about being tired, but I was living a full life, volunteering for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and catching up with friends,” says Iris, who had been her mother’s full-time carer before she had died the year before.

The possibility of having cancer was never on her mind, and Iris was happy for her GP to refer her to a gastroenterologist until events on a day out at Beth Chatto’s gardens near Colchester late September in 2016 changed everything.

“Until then, I just thought that I needed to slow down,” says Iris. “I was visiting these lovely gardens with Steve and his mum and felt incredibly weary, going from bench to bench to sit down. It was then that I first thought something was seriously wrong.

“The next day my abdomen started to swell and swell, and swell. By the time I saw my GP three days later my abdomen was distended and my breathing was laboured,” she recalls.

The UK’s ovarian cancer support charity Ovacome is running a campaign this March for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month to highlight how the disease can present itself with digestive problems.

It has come up with the B.E.A.T acronym of the main symptoms of ovarian cancer: B is for bloating that does not come and go; E is for eating difficulty and feeling full more quickly; A is for abdominal and pelvic pain felt most days and T for toilet changes, in urination or bowel habits.

● if you are concerned about ovarian cancer, contact Ovacome’s support line on 0800 008 7054, or visit ovacome.org.uk