Viva Bianca Instagram – I had my ovaries removed at 41. Not because I’m a minimalist (though I do love a clean bench top), but because I carry the BRCA1 gene variant. In addition to raising my lifetime risk of breast cancer — which reared its head last year — BRCA1 also increases the risk of ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is sneaky. It whispers. And by the time most women hear it, it’s screaming. There’s no reliable screening test which is why women like me are told: “Take them out now or risk never getting the chance.”
So I did. Prophylactic oophorectomy. (Say that three times while sipping wine.)
Unlike other cancers, there’s no Pap smear or mammogram or ultrasound equivalent for ovaries. Nothing that reliably catches it early. Which is why ovarian cancer still has a 50% fatality rate. Half of all women diagnosed won’t survive. That’s not just a statistic — it’s a warning bell we’re not ringing loud enough.
Today is World Ovarian Cancer Day, and this is mr saying: we deserve better. Better research, better resources, better outcomes. And in the meantime? Women in every corner of our globe, from every background, deserve to know. About the risks, the genes, the options. Because silence has never saved us.
Please help spread the word!
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#WorldOvarianCancerDay #NoWomanLeftBehind #BRCA1 #BRCA2 #OvarianCancerAwareness #FeministAF #breastcancer #breastcancersurvivors #HotFlashesAndHighStandards | Posted on 08/May/2025 23:30:00
