It was September 2020, right in the middle of Covid, that I noticed I was having some unusual abdominal pressure and changes in period and bowel habits, no real pain, nothing that that felt serious. My doctor didn't seem too concerned, but fortunately, she still listened to my complaints and just to cover all bases she ran a CA125, the blood test for ovarian cancer.

To our surprise, the blood marker was elevated, pointing to a possible, but still not certain, cancer. I was sent to an oncologist and put through a battery of tests, multiple biopsies, blood tests, CT scan, PET scan and an 8+ hour abdominal surgery which finally lead to a diagnosis.

I woke up from surgery, on the morning of my 52nd birthday, to find out I had a rare form of ovarian cancer, Low Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer.  I was to soon find out that this is a cancer with a poor prognosis (only 50% of women likely to live 5 years after diagnosis), that is challenging to treat since most are discovered late stage (like mine) and that is resistant to chemotherapy, the usual treatment for ovarian cancer.

Fortunately, recent research has opened up some new options for this disease. I'm currently on a drug that has kept my cancer at bay for three years and I'm so thankful that I'm not just surviving, but thriving. Despite never being cancer free, the disease has shrunk, and I'm doing everything I can to heal while I advocate for more awareness and more treatment options, for this understudied, underfunded disease. I've lost too many friends and seen too many amazing women taken by this disease all too soon! 

Ride the Teal Wave benefits STAAR Ovarian Cancer Foundation's Step Up America for Ovarian Cancer campaign. Donations support research for effective treatments to improve the outcomes for people who have low-grade serous ovarian cancer.

Thank you for your support!

France xo