News

Urges all to act after mum’s shock death

OVARIAN cancer is known as a silent killer of women and it is far too easy to dismiss its symptoms, warns campaigner Mary Dias.

The Auburn resident’s mother died on Christmas Day in 2003, just a week after being diagnosed, and it is in her memory that Mrs Dias is calling for women to be alert to signs they might otherwise ignore.
This includes abdominal or pelvic pain; increased abdominal size or persistent bloating; the need to urinate often or urgently; and feeling full after eating a small amount.
“Women should note down these symptoms and if they persist, they should go and see a doctor and ask them to do an ultrasound,” she said.
“These are common symptoms and it’s too easy to just brush them off.
“That’s what we did, that’s what the doctors did and that’s what I don’t want other women to do.”
Ahead of Teal Ribbon Day on February 24, she is urging women not to give up if they think something might not be quite right.
Mrs Dias said tragically family and medical staff put each of her 80-year-old mother’s symptoms down as ‘just part of getting old’ until it was too late.
“We didn’t know it was metastatic, that she was dying – she was in such pain but just kept smiling all the way through,” she said.
“It’s a terrible thing, such an awful cancer. It’s for my mum that I have to do this, to talk about ovarian cancer and to educate everyone.”
The Ovarian Cancer Australia Helpline is available 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday, on 1300 660 334 or visit ovariancancer.net.au.