What do these women have in common?
Dianne Heatherington. Rosalind Franklin. Gilda Radner. Laura Nyro. Coretta Scott King. Marcheline Bertrand. Jessica Tandy. My sister, two weeks before her 41st birthday.
Yes, they all died from ovarian cancer.
September is Ovarian Cancer awareness month.
In a marketing and publicity world that is obsessed with the artifacts of female beauty and tactics to leverage the charms of female celebrities to sell their products, it’s not surprising that Breast Cancer has been branded as the sexy affliction while ovarian cancer is just another dirty little secret, a disease that affects women “down there”.
Perhaps it’s a small blessing that conservative bible-thumpers and the “All your wombs R ours” zygote zealots have not claimed this bandwagon. Shrieeeking is not a savvy public relations instrument.
Ovarian cancer is a pernicious and quiet killer of women. When it starts manifesting itself, its symptoms are often confused with the innocuous signs of peri-menopause.
Some physicians are not inclined to explore the complaints that women bring to their attention. Yet this form of cancer when caught early on can be successfully contained and eradicated. Hopefully more women will become aware of the warning signs of this disease as well as more knowledgeable about the ways that cancer-fighting foods and exercise can help prevent it.
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