Tuesday, September 15, 2009

PSA Tuesday: Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

Notice my new look?

I'm teal for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

Michelle of Bleeding Espresso and Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy have been getting the word out on this insidious, silent killer. They've put together an O Foods Contest, and Michelle is also involved with Teal Toes for Ovarian Cancer Awareness.

Ovarian cancer is a silent killer. It's often diagnosed when the disease is advanced. There is no simple test that can be used for screening. If you have any of the following symptoms - bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; or urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency) - please get checked out right away. When ovarian cancer is caught early, it's generally very treatable.

Here is the info for the O Foods Contest:

CONTEST RULES

O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and for the second year in a row, Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are hosting the O Foods Contest to raise awareness of this important health issue.

There are TWO WAYS to take part in the O Foods Contest:

ONE: Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato); include this entire text box in the post; and send your post url along with a photo (100 x 100) to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

PRIZES for recipe posts:

* 1st: Signed copy of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma, Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who is currently battling ovarian cancer, inspired this event, and will be choosing her favorite recipe for this prize;

* 2nd: Signed copy of Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home by Mario Batali (winner chosen by Sara);

* 3rd: Signed copy of Vino Italiano: The Regional Italian Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich (winner chosen by Michelle).

OR

TWO: If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word and send your post url to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

Awareness posts PRIZE:

* One winner chosen at random will receive a Teal Toes tote bag filled with ovarian cancer awareness goodies that you can spread around amongst your friends and family.

———

From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

* Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
* The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose, but include bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency).
* There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
* In spite of this, patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
* When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

And remember, you can also always donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at our page through FirstGiving!
Please help spread the word about ovarian cancer.
Together we can make enough noise to kill this silent killer.

12 comments:

Korie said...

Breat cancer is my family's arch nemesis. And lung cancer. And skin cancer. And bone cancer. Pretty much anything but ovarian, but that's probably cause most of the women in my family end up with historectemies. Poke me at some point and I'll post about it on my blog. :)

Jen said...

I'm sorry to hear that, Lilac. Lung, skin and prostate cancer are the evils in my family.

I'm poking you...

I think the main thing is to get out tips about PREVENTION/treatment.

Brian Miller said...

my dad has had over 90 skin cnacer surgeries now. we just found out yesterday my uncle has prostate cancer. cancer is scary stuff, awareness and prevention are key. thanks for bringing it out jen.

Jen said...

Brian, I'm so sorry to hear that! More power to your dad - I hope they keep getting those cancers! In terms of your uncle, it's very sad, but also very survivable - that wasn't the case for my dad, but he'd already metastasized when they diagnosed him, but my father-in-law also had prostate cancer and for him, it was just a blip - he had a few rounds of radiation and he's still going strong at 88 ten years later.

Virtualsprite said...

The women in my family have battled cervical and ovarian cancer for generations. My grandma was the first one to speak out about it, and I'm grateful. I miss her greatly, but she was so honest about her cancer and her struggles that when I was diagnosed with cervical dysplasia and given a high cancer risk, I wasn't afraid.

I'll scour my recipes for O ones.

Momisodes said...

Thank you for posting this. Ovarian cancer is frightening. Especially since the symptoms are so common and don't seem threatening.

Ivy said...

Thanks for posting this. I am already preparing my post for this cause.

Goofball said...

I thought you were talking about cervical cancer and I got confused as prevention for cervical cancer is very high here (my physician wants a pap test every 2 years minimum) and there's major vaccination campaigns for young girls.

Then I looked it up and I understood now the correct translation for ovarian cancer. it's true: we never hear about it!! Not in Belgium either. So it's good signalling out the symptoms.

Just very remarkable that you say the risk for ovarian cancer is 1/67....whereas in the Netherlands (found it on multiple sources now) it is 7 woman out of 100000. Quite a difference!!! Isn't that strange? I really don't get that. I wonder what Belgian figures would be but can't find any online.

Jen said...

Virtual, your grandmother sounds like a remarkable woman. I'm so sorry to hear of your loss and hoping that you stay clear of all this!

Momisodes - absolutely - that's why we have to keep letting people know to watch for them!

Ivy - Michelle and Sara are really doing a wonderful thing.

Goofball - it may be a dietary thing, or those figures may be waaaaayyyyyy out of date. It depends on when the last Dutch study was done. Studies on "women's" diseases tend to be given short shrift, and there's less research being done, in general.

Goofball said...

@jen: yes might be a dietary thing , but also prevention actions that work differently in Europe (Holland is known for excellent prevention measures!) and... we all have access to cheap medical services (one general visit costs me 2.5 euro) so I think we see a doctor quicker when we have complaints?

I've done some mroe surfing in my lunchtime and I keep finding on different websites similar figures: 7/100000 in the Netherlands, 15/100000 for Western Europe, 1/60 (! higher than your numer) for the USA. They hardly ever mention dates for those numbers neither definitions to obtain these numbers and compare them.

Jeanie said...

Thanks for posting this. My mom died from ovarian cancer (and breast cancer) -- bad stuff -- I didn't know they had a "color."

I'll try to pull this together and post something, too -- for awareness if nothing else.

Jen said...

Goofball - that's all interesting. As far as prevention goes, that's not something that can be done yet, so I don't think that's a factor, but it may well be that since you all have UNIVERSAL healthcare, cough, cough, people DO feel more comfortable going to the doctor right away and yes, that would certainly help curb this awful disease. I hadn't thought of that until you brought it up this morning. I wonder what the figures are in Canada, simply because I think many factors in Canada are similar to the U.S. environmentally with the exception of the healthcare issue.

Jeanie - I'm so, so sorry to hear that. Posting anything to remind people this month would be great.