I am 24 years old and have just completed my nursing degree. My third and final year was much harder than I ever expected because my mum was diagnosed with ovarian cancer just before Christmas 2015, she had been visiting the GP regularly since April 2015 and had been constantly told it was Irrital Bowel Syndrome, the GP failed to complete a simple blood test to screen for ovarian cancer and I feel this is the main reason for her late diagnosis and poor prognosis. In the 9 months that followed her diagnosis mum was brave and fought hard to beat cancer. However we had constant bad news throughout her treatment. At first we were told she would have an operation after 3 cycles of chemo. After the 3 cycles it was decided she was too weak for an operation so the plan would be to give her 3 more cycles and then operate. The waiting list for the operation was long and she eventually had the operation over a month after the last cycle of chemo. I had just finished my final courses and placement and was attending an end of degree meal with friends and lecturers when I received a call from my dad telling me the operation had not gone well and we needed to go to the hospital, I rushed back from London to Leicester and found out that the cancer could not be operated on and they would need to consider the best form of treatment. This to me as a nursing student who had just spent several months working on an oncology ward did not sound positive, but I did my up-most to remain positive for my mum. The operation made my mum seriously ill and she had to be admitted to the ICU to recover. After a couple of weeks mum was able to return home. Then a week later we received the devastating news that there was not anything more they could do and chemo would not be an option because of mums current physical state. I nursed mum at home with my family and friends, 2 weeks later mum passed away surrounded by me, my dad, sister and brothers. I miss her soo much and her bravery is and inspiration to me. I do not want what happened to my mum to happen to anyone else, so I want to stress the importance of recognising the symptoms of this disease; which are constant bloating, nausea, difficulty eating, abdominal pain and abdominal swelling. If you are over 55 years, have never been diagnosed with Irrital Bowel Syndrome and attend a GP with these symptoms then you should have a CA125 blood test.
