Randalynn

I don’t think anyone is prepared for the call when it happens. I can still hear mine as clear as day. “I’ve been trying to figure out all morning how to tell you this… you have ovarian cancer, it’s aggressive, we need to get you to an oncologist quickly.” I was 36 years old.  I was a healthy, single mom of two young children. This can’t be happening to me.

Looking back, I should have known I was sick. I was beyond exhausted, losing weight, and unable to eat. I’d had lower back pain and heartburn for a few months prior to being diagnosed. The pelvic pain and UTI-like symptoms didn’t start until a couple of weeks prior. I went to the ER for a UTI I couldn’t shake, and they discovered two large masses on my ovaries. It wasn’t until a week after surgery performed by my OB/GYN to remove a “dermoid cyst” that was no big deal that I found out I had high grade serous ovarian cancer. The news came by telephone while my mom was out grabbing me lunch, as some of my appetite had started to return.

How had I gone this many years without knowing that anyone with ovaries can be diagnosed with ovarian cancer? You don’t have to be a certain age, race or ethnicity, you simply need to have a pair of ovaries. I knew nothing about ovarian cancer at the time, except that more times than not, the prognosis wasn’t good. How was I going to beat this? I needed to be here for my children.  

Within two business days of hearing those words, I’d meet with my lead oncologist. Four days later, I was undergoing a full debulking procedure where they’d preform a full hysterectomy, including cervix, remove my omentum, and thoroughly check the rest of my abdominal cavity, including my bowels.  I would be left with a 13” incision down the middle of my abdomen, in full fledged menopause, hanging on to the words my oncologist would tell me – “I think we got it all, it appears to be an early stage diagnosis.”  Two weeks later I’d learn that despite only having an 18% chance of being diagnosed in the early stages, I was one of the lucky few. I’d also learn that I had endometrial cancer as well, resulting in us deciding that six rounds of chemotherapy (a combination of Carbo and Taxol) would be needed versus the four that we had once contemplated. On July 3, 2017 I would receive my N.E.D report. To date I’ve been fortunate and recurrence free (someone knock on some wood for me!).  

Often times I’m asked two things immediately when someone hears of my diagnosis: “Were you not going to your annual exams?” and, “Do you have a genetic mutation?” 

Their reaction to my answer to the first question is one of shock, and I’m sure I looked the same – your annual exam doesn’t screen for ovarian cancer, and there is no preventative screening test in place at this time. And, yes, I do have a genetic mutation, but unfortunately at this time we don’t know exactly if or what cancer(s) it may be responsible for. Not only do I carry it, but so does my father and his mother. Each of us have been diagnosed with a hormone related cancer, and because of that, I opted to have a preventative bi-lateral mastectomy 18 months after my initial diagnosis.  

The diagnosis changed my life. It made me realize how lucky I was to have been diagnosed in the early stages, and it woke me up in a way nothing else could have. It made me a stronger person than I ever knew was possible and it has given me a voice that I won’t stop using until more women stand a fighting chance against this disease. Creating awareness is key, the majority of women don’t know the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer. Over the past year I’ve been fortunate enough to partner with my friend and fellow survivor to chat weekly about navigating life after a cancer diagnosis on our podcast, Sips with Survivors.  

I don’t think I’d be the person I am now without being diagnosed 5 years ago. You learn that life is about perspective – if it’s not life or death, or going to matter in 5 years, let it go, move along. I’ve lived more fully in the last five years than I had in the years prior to being diagnosed – summiting two fourteeners in Colorado, crossing the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim, Everesting state-side, completing a Century Ride for cancer research, just to name a few. Why didn’t I do all of these things before? Because I didn’t think I could. But once you face cancer and go through all that it entails, you realize you can do just about anything, so you try, and you allow your adventures to grow.  

    You can find Randalynn on Instagram @randalynn_fv.

Watch the video below to hear Randalynn’s “I Didn’t Know, But Want You to Know” video for World Ovarian Cancer Day, 2023.