This is an excerpt of Erin Barrett’s Dec. 22, 2015 Facebook post. It’s been shared almost 304,000 times.
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People have asked me what they can do to help. This is something I have struggled with as I have been so well looked after. My decision is to ask you all to help me raise awareness.
They call ovarian cancer the silent killer. This is because the symptoms are so subtle that it is often caught too late. Currently, the odds of getting ovarian cancer are one in 58 (compared to one in seven for breast cancer).
I want the next 10 women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer to be diagnosed early. This means I need your help in telling 580 women about the symptoms.
This is where you come in. Take 15 seconds – that’s all it takes – to tell two or three women in your life about the symptoms. This could be your wife, your mother, your sister, your daughter – any woman you care about.
Here we go:
• Persistent stomach pain
• Persistent bloating
• Finding it difficult to eat or feeling full quickly
• Needing to pee more often
• Back pain
• Changes to bowel habits (constipation or diarrhoea)
• Feeling tired all the time
If any or all of these are present, especially in women 40+, please PLEASE go see your doctor. You’re not wasting anyone’s time; you’re being smart and ensuring you’ll be around for the long haul for the people you love.
So, if you want to help me, get on the phone, send an email (or six), grab a coffee with a woman you love and spend 15 seconds talking about this. It could save her life. And, it’ll make me happy (guilt, guilt).
Don’t worry, I’ve decided that I’ll be fine, and that’s just the way it is.
With love,
Erin xx
Editor’s note: In a recent interview with the Courier, Erin Barrett said that the B.C. Cancer Agency is involved with ground-breaking research that indicates most ovarian cancers start in the fallopian tubes. “If you’re going to get your tubes tied after your last baby, or have a caesarian and know you don’t want another baby, get your tubes out,” she says of the recommended protocol. “Don’t get your tubes tied, get them out. They’re trying to stop up to 50 per cent of ovarian cancers from developing.”
