This is a post that's been on my heart ever since an October trip to the mall.
But I guess I should back up and tell you a little bit of background here.
On this day, four years ago, my mamaw Delcia Carver was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. I was standing in a corner of my kitchen when my parents told me, and I looked out of our window, down to her house, just trying to grasp this new concept. Cancer is something that you hear about all of your life, and like most other tragic situations in life, you can't feel the gravity of it until it hits home. For the next six months after this, I watched cancer take a very strong, busy, highly-independent woman, and break her down into a person that was barely capable of making it through the day. She was a CNA, a mother and grandmother of three, and had dedicated her entire life to taking care of other people, and I saw how much it killed her when the roles were reversed and everyone had to take care of her. Six and a half months after her diagnosis, on May 20, 2011 at 7:40 AM, cancer took her life.
She was 68; I was 15. She was gone; I was devastated. And as I type this today and the tears roll down my face, I realize that the devastation never fully goes away. She never got to see me get my license, my car, get my braces off, graduate, or get engaged, because of cancer.
I tell you all of these details, because if you are one of these people that have never had a personal experience with cancer, it's really hard to understand. I never got it. Not until this day four years ago.
I tell you this story to lead into another one, that starts in September.
September is Ovarian Cancer awareness month. I found this out about a year ago. I never heard one single thing about Ovarian Cancer in September.
October is Breast Cancer awareness month. I made a trip to the mall a few weeks ago, and every single store I went into had some kind of Breast Cancer display, and chances to donate. I know of at least three football teams that had "Pink Outs" for breast cancer awareness. You could not escape the pink ribbon in October.
Now, I am NOT taking anything away from the victims, survivors, and families of those who have/had breast cancer. This is partly why I chose today, the day after October, to write this post, so I wouldn't take anything away from the tragedy of breast cancer. I'm just trying to point out the fact that breast cancer gets WAY more recognition than any other kind of cancer, and I have to wonder why.
I'm not gonna lie; it hurt my feelings that no one had any kind of recognition for ovarian cancer. It is a VERY dangerous form of cancer; it can grow very fast, and is very often not detected by getting a yearly exam, which is the best way to prevent it, because it's very difficult for doctors to catch it. So if you have cancerous places on your ovaries and the doctors don't catch it one year, you could go back the next year and be in stage four, easily. The way many women find out they have it is by experiencing side effects of it, which is how my Mamaw found out. It is a scary thought.
Which brings me to the point of my post: There has to be a better way to prevent/catch ovarian cancer. I'm clearly no scientist or doctor; I'm an 18 year old girl, and there isn't a whole lot I can do in this world. But I'm also a blogger, with a platform on the internet (although it's relatively short) and I'm using my platform for a cause I truly believe in today.
I'm posting a link to a place where you can donate to the cause of Ovarian Cancer:
And, also a link to buy Ovarian Cancer Awareness products (clothes, jewelry, etc.) of which the proceeds go to the research of Ovarian Cancer:
I myself have purchased from there, and I feel like I've honored my Mamaw in a great way by contributing to the helping of people that are struggling with the same thing she did.
I hope if you take nothing else from this post, that you take this: Be so grateful for your health, and your family. They are so precious; I think I'll go hug mine now. I hope you guys have a blessed weekend!
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