HELENA — HELENA — September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, a time to shine a light on a disease often called a "silent killer."
With symptoms that can be subtle and mistaken for other conditions, ovarian cancer is often diagnosed in its later stages. However, survivors such as Sue Von Eschen say that awareness about this disease could save lives.
“I want to say be proactive,” said Von Eschen.
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Proactive because many of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer are vague, and there is currently no effective screening or early detection test for the disease.
“Women need to be aware of what the signs and symptoms are; there are different signs and symptoms,” said Von Eschen.
Those could look like bloating, pelvic and abdominal pain, heartburn, and frequent urination, to name a few.
Von Eschen says, “If I would have been aware of the signs, I could have been diagnosed at even an earlier stage than I was .”
Twenty percent of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed in the early stages, and Von Eschen is one of those women.
She says, “I still was very lucky.”
What Von Eschen at first thought was a bladder infection changed her life forever.
“I got that pain again, and I just felt in my heart there was something wrong,” said Von Eschen.
Her heart was right; cancer was in her ovaries and fallopian tubes.
“You are never told that you are cured,” Von Eschen says. “You are told that you are N-E-D, no evidence of disease.”
Surgery and six rounds of chemo later, Von Eschen is here to tell her story and raise awareness.
“Just live your life because you cannot redo your good days,” she noted.
