By Marcia Donziger, our Founder and Executive Director

I was 27 and thought I had a bladder infection.  Turned out to be a tumor on my right ovary. 

At first, my gynecologist was not concerned. 

“Could it be cancer?” I worried. 

“No”, she replied, “You’re too young to have cancer.”

I was married and trying to get pregnant at the time, so I scheduled surgery immediately to get it over with.  The doctor assured me the worst that could happen is I’d lose one ovary, and still be able to have children.  She was confident the tumor was benign.

On surgery day, I was wheeled into the pre-op room.  That’s when the medical assistant approached me with a legal form to sign, agreeing to the potential of having a hysterectomy.  My doctor and I never discussed this.

Five hours later, the surgery was over, and I was in the recovery room.  My body thrashed around in pain, and I still felt knives stabbing throughout my stomach and back.

That’s when my doctor broke the news. “I’m sorry, but you have Ovarian Cancer.  We had to do a complete Hysterectomy.”

Through the pain, I heard, “You have cancer.  You can’t have children.” 

The irony was that my doctor was six months pregnant.  Her belly at my eye level felt like multiple stabs in the heart.

Stage 3c Ovarian Cancer spread throughout my abdomen.  Infertility.  Followed by a bowel obstruction.  And six months of chemotherapy. 

One of things I struggled with most was keeping friends and family up-to-date with what was going on.  I felt the daily burden of not communicating effectively with those I loved who were so concerned. 

In 2007, I founded MyLifeLine.org to help all cancer patients and caregivers easily communicate with friends and family during the treatment process.  MyLifeLine.org Cancer Foundation believes a strong support community is critical for cancer patients.  We provide free, personal websites to cancer patients and caregivers to easily connect with family and friends, because no patient should ever feel alone. Learn more at www.mylifeline.org.

I would love to hear how an experience you’ve had with cancer inspired you to do something in the fight against cancer. Please share your comments.