“It just came out of nowhere.” That was Starla Fiddler’s reaction when she was diagnosed with granulosa cell tumour, a rare form of ovarian cancer, at the age of 23. There was no history of any type of cancer in her family. Her only symptom, she says, was having had no period for about a year, but her family doctor was unconcerned.
“I had to really push him to investigate further because he would tell me I was young and healthy, that because I was working night shifts and then day shifts my body was not regulating,” she says of her job as a nurse in Saskatoon. “He told me to cut out caffeine to see if that helped. I pushed for a second opinion and he referred me to a gynecologist who found a cyst on my ovary. They removed it and discovered it was ovarian cancer. At my age, I didn’t even realize that was a thing.”
While it’s true ovarian cancer primarily affects women who have gone through menopause, it can strike at any age. To find out more about this insidious disease, and how Starla has been navigating it, click here to read my latest story for Postmedia’s Healthing section.
Robin Roberts 