Show Notes
This week you meet Morgan. September 2019, Morgan was diagnosed with low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, after an ultrasound to investigate her fertility to freeze her eggs. Low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma is a rare, slow-growing cancer that tends to be more prevalent in younger women when compared to more common forms of ovarian cancer.
May 8th is World Ovarian Cancer Day
Established in 2013 by a group of leaders from ovarian cancer advocacy organizations around the world, May 8 – World Ovarian Cancer Day, is the one day of the year we globally raise our voices in solidarity in the fight against ovarian cancer.
While the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition works on many fronts, World Ovarian Cancer Day is our flagship awareness-raising initiative, and is the key date in our calendar. Supported by over 170 organizations from around the world, our social media reach grows exponentially every year, with 2020 numbers at over three million up from one million the previous year. Organizations as small as kitchen table-based patient advocacy groups in rural communities, to national healthcare associations based in major metropolitan areas, all come together as one to raise awareness about the disease.
https://worldovariancancercoalition.org/
STAAR
STAAR exists to raise critical funds for life-saving research for those with low-grade ovarian cancer.
STAAR was co-founded by three low-grade ovarian cancer thrivers in early 2020. The foundation exists to fund research for better treatment options for low-grade serous carcinoma, a rare (less than 10% of ovarian cancer cases) and extremely underfunded subtype.
Low-grade serous carcinoma is often labeled as a "tricky opponent" by clinicians because it acts differently than more common subtypes - it grows slower and is often chemo-resistant, leaving fewer treatment options. The average age of diagnosis is 18 years younger than ovarian cancer overall, meaning that many diagnosed are young moms or never got a chance to have children. Research dedicated to low-grade ovarian cancer is desperately needed to give women a chance at longer lives.
For more information on low-grade serous carcinoma, please visit our friends at Cure Our Ovarian Cancer, the leading global charity dedicated to low-grade research.
May 6th is Conquer Cancer Day
find out how you can make a difference and donate here
More from My Cancer Story
Continuing on with our 3rd season's theme, we are featuring a very impressive young lady who created the non profit Strong Little Souls at the age of 13 years old. Madison Quinn at a young age made a connection with a young child battling cancer and Strong Little Souls was born! Strong Little Souls has been going strong for the past 7 years helping brighten the lives for children battling cancer. Since its inception, they have sent out over 1,000 Care Packages and offer amazing programs. Madison is 20 years young and is currently in nursing school and making the world a better place, one package at a time. To learn more about Strong Little Souls: IG @stronglittlesouls https://www.stronglittlesouls.org/ https://www.facebook.com/stronglittlesouls/
This months Cancer Story is from Amy Steeves. She is the founder of the nonprofit Amys Rays of Sunshine in which they brighten the lives of cancer patients one box at a time. Amy is a survivor of a very rare type of lymphoma called AILT Lymphoma which is typically diagnosed in men aged 70 and older. She tells her story of misdiagnosis during and after pregnancy and ultimately how doctors found her cancer. She also tells the hurdles she endured along the way to find a donor and is now celebrating her 3rd Re-Birthday! "Keep your face towards the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you" To learn more about what Amys Rays of Sunshine does or how you can help out: https://m.facebook.com/amysraysofsunshine/?ref=py_c https://www.amysraysofsunshine.org/ https://www.amysraysofsunshine.org/get_involved
I apologize for the few interruptions that we have in the episode today, I attempted to edit but my software would not cooperate with me. Hang in there, it is WORTH IT! Today's Cancer Story has a little twist. You will be meeting and learning about Jacob Beckley. He is the founder (2016) of the non-profit called The Beckley Foundation and later CURE Token. The Beckley foundation helps families effected by pediatric cancer by giving grants directly to families. This especially includes types of cancer with underfunded research. Not only are they dedicated to making a difference, Jacob also created CURE pay, a way for people to buy and hold the token with a credit card without having to sign up far a 'wallet'. This is a fact filled episode where you will learn about Pediatric Cancer, Cryptocurrency, NFT's and Block Chain Tech. Jacob has wonderful stories and talks about how he took lockdown and quarantine and made something truly amazing with it! Listen and Learn! To learn about Jacob: https://www.thebeckleyfoundation.org/ https://www.curetoken.net/ https://www.race4acure.com/
Celebrating My Cancer Story Podcasts 2nd Anniversary with the perfect guest! You will be hearing from Dana who is a Papillary Thyroid Cancer Survivor. Dana was diagnosed at age 24 and after being urged by her dentist to get the lump in her throat checked out. Going through her thyroidectomy surgery and multiple rounds of RAI treatment was in a survival mode blur. It wasn’t until after all of that, when was released back into the 'wild' with a gigantic scar across her neck, that she started to struggle with her reality. For the longest time, she kept her journey private, not really talking about her experience with family, friends or coworkers. It wasn't until I Dana met other women who had gone through the same cancer she had noticed that we all had a similar question we would ask each-other: "What does your scar look like?" She realized that she wasn't alone and that she had this built in and awesome cancer community that she was a part of. Fast forward to Dana creating The Butterfly Scar Project.