Harts of Teal, a faith-based non-profit started by two ovarian cancer survivors.

My name is Marsha and I’m from eastern NC. I am 52 years old. I am a Mother to 3 children and a Nana to the sweetest baby girl ever. In March of this year I started noticing that I was getting tired easily. I would have big plans to go shopping and after the first store, I would need to come home. I also noticed frequent urination and changes in my bowel habits. I noticed a tender swollen abdomen. I was nauseous and lost 20 pounds in 2 months. I was also spotting daily. I mentioned all these symptoms to my PCP and because I had COVID in late January she contributed my symptoms to that. I had just had my yearly physical with my gynecologist 4 months earlier and it was normal. She contributed my spotting to peri menopause. In late April I could feel something in my abdomen that I knew was not normal. My grand daughter was due to be born at any time so I just decided to wait and go to the doctor after she was born. I felt like it was something serious and I didn’t want to take away any joy from her birth. I went to my PCP on May 13 and she sent me for a CT the next day. She called later and told me I had a significant mass in my abdomen and she was sending me to a specialist. She said it would be around 2 weeks before I could get an appointment. I was in panic mode and knew there was no way, I could wait 2 weeks. By the grace of God someone canceled and I was able to be seen the next day. She told me it was more than likely cancer and she scheduled surgery for May 24th. I was diagnosed with Stage 3C Ovarian Cancer. I was devastated. All I could think about was not being here for my family. I lost my parents early and I didn’t want my children to go through the same thing I did as a young adult. Telling my children was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Before surgery I wrote my family letters. I was hoping they weren’t going to be goodbye letters but I was so scared I wouldn’t wake up that I wanted them to have something from me just in case. Thankfully surgery went well and recovery was better than I was expecting. Cancer had spread to all my female organs, omentum, peritoneum, and I had cancer cells in fluid in my abdomen. My doctor was confident she removed all visible cancer. I’ve gone through 6 cycles of Taxol/Carbo and will have my post chemo scan in 2 weeks. I am praying to be NED at that time. The plan after that is to start Zejula. I’m not sure what my future holds. I pray everyday that my cancer will not come back. I’m trusting God to hold me in His and hands and I am so thankful that today I have hope for a future.

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