A Personal Journey: Leane Flynn

The statistics of ovarian cancer can be confronting and almost unfathomable. With the majority of women being diagnosed in late stages, most women do not live beyond five years post diagnosis, making long term survival stories few and far between. Leane Flynn, like many ovarian cancer patients, has an ongoing story, one of a courageous and perpetual fight against her cancer, but also for awareness of ovarian cancer and ultimately, an early detection test. Our 3rd time White Shirt Campaign ambassador shares her personal story.

In April 2017, Leane Flynn considered herself perfectly healthy. Vague discomfort, which she suspected was menopause, led her to book an appointment with her GP. It was that appointment which was to change the course of her future significantly.

Diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer, Leane unknowingly had a drink can-sized tumour on both of her ovaries and another tumour growing between her liver and diaphragm. A cancer she knew nothing about and with little treatment options, Leane’s cancer journey had begun.

Following invasive surgery and three rounds of chemotherapy, her story leads an unfortunate unnerving rollercoaster, oscillating between successful treatment followed by recurrences, a pattern all too familiar to most ovarian cancer patients.

The reality of living with ovarian cancer is that it very rarely actually goes away…I will never be out of treatment, the treatment is the only thing keeping me alive.

They have no other treatment options available, so they just keep trying chemo until it stops working, and at this point, that’s all we have.

I hope that my daughters don’t have to go through what I’ve had to go through...and that they can live in a world that isn’t shrouded by this ongoing malicious disease called ovarian cancer.

This White Shirt Can Save Lives

Buy an OCRF White Shirt and Witchery will donate 100% of gross proceeds to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.

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