It will be Team V's second year raising funds for the Cedars Run for Ovarian Cancer. We named the team V in honor of Veronika, our beloved mother, wife, grandmother, colleague, and friend, who passed away this summer of 2024 after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer. V also stands for Victory over this disease and over the systemic barriers to finding a cure for it, in honor of our other loved ones suffering and in honor of the talented and devoted teams caring for our loved ones.
Ovarian cancer remains the deadliest gynecological cancer, and its prevention and treatment is grossly understudied and underfinanced. Because its early symptoms are so vague, they often get overlooked due to systemic sexism and ageism. When diagnosed at stage 1, the five-year survival rate for ovarian and endometrial cancers is close to 90%. Unfortunately, most people only find out they are sick once the disease is far too advanced to cure. There are very limited ways to detect it early, meaning people often find out they have it much later than they would for other cancers and reducing their chances at survival.
We are raising funds for the DOvEEgene project developed by Dr. Gilbert and her team of McGill researchers; it provides a safe and minimally invasive method for earlier diagnosis of ovarian and endometrial cancers while being the only test to distinguish cancerous versus non-cancerous cells in pre- and post-menopausal women.
Many of the risk factors of ovarian cancer are unfortunately beyond our individual control; systemic discrimination causing chronic stress, exposure to pesticides and environmental pollutants due to government negligence and corporate greed, to name a few-- age, and unluckiness to name others. However, I do find it encouraging that there is this amazing lab in Montreal working day and night to improve health outcomes for those affected by the illness- the earlier the illness gets detected, the more optimistic the outcomes.
