Shannon’s Story: Confronting Ovarian Cancer

My name is Shannon.  I am from Charlotte, NC.  I am married.    In July of 2009, I had just returned from my dream vacation to France.  Not even a month later, following a few trips to the gynecologist with complaints of abdominal pain, I was sitting in the office of a gynecologic oncologist.  I had never even heard those words used in a sentence.  I was being prepped for surgery to remove a cyst.  One week later, I was diagnosed with Stage IIa clear cell carcinoma, a form of ovarian cancer considered rare in younger women.  Within two weeks of being diagnosed, I had  a radical hysterectomy and a few weeks later, I began six rounds of chemotherapy.  I was 32 years old and approaching my three year wedding anniversary. My husband and I thought we had plenty of time to have kids naturally and so not only was having cancer a big shock, but coming to terms with never being able to ‘feel’ a baby grow inside me was also a lot to take.  I started looking for more information on my cancer.  I mean, this was the first time I had ever heard of ovarian cancer.  The information I found was scary.  My doctor told me to stay off the Internet and so I did.  I asked him what my color was and he looked confused.  I knew pink was for breast cancer and so I almost immediately thought, Oh my, what’s my color?  And I’m not going to lie, I hoped the awareness color designated for ovarian cancer went well with my skin tone.  By the way, it does.  Having heard ab...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tags: Cancer Caregiving Women's Health Source Type: blogs