Student, 22, reveals the only ‘vague’ symptom she experienced days before tragic cancer diagnosis: ‘I feared for my life’
When Chloe Spitalnic started experiencing stomach pain on and off for five days, she put it down to food intolerances.
But little did she know that this “vague” and “minor” symptom was a warning of something much more sinister.
At just 22 years old, Chloe from Melbourne was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer and had three tumors growing on her ovary.
“I immediately feared for my life,” Chloe, now 25, told FEMAIL.
‘I was lying in bed at home when the doctor called me and told me the news. I couldn’t stop crying and panicked.’
Chloe Spitalnic was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer ‘out of the blue’ at the age of 22. She described the ordeal as ‘traumatic’
Before her diagnosis in August 2020, Victoria was in a strict Covid lockdown and Chloe has just started a masters degree.
She was ‘fit and healthy’ at the time and enjoyed going out with friends. She also has lactose and fructose intolerance, which is why she initially dismissed the stomach pain.
‘The pain came and went from time to time. I didn’t think it was anything serious and thought it might be my stomach. I complained about it to my family,” Chloe recalled.
‘But then it became quite a sharp pain and it hurt even to breathe or move. My mother and sister urged me to see a doctor.”
Due to Covid, she had a Telehealth appointment followed by a face-to-face appointment. Unfortunately, her regular GP was on maternity leave, so she arranged for another doctor.
At the clinic the doctor felt around her stomach and recommended an ultrasound the next morning, which Chloe did and thought ‘nothing about it’.
That afternoon on August 12, she received a call from the doctor to discuss the results of her ultrasound.
“When she called, she asked if anyone was with me, and my dad was in the other room, but I still didn’t think it was anything important,” Chloe said.
‘I remember lying in bed with my phone on speaker. She told me I have three large cysts on my ovary, which they thought were cancer.
‘I immediately started sobbing. I went to my father and handed him the phone to talk to the doctor. She told him and he hung up in disbelief. He thought it was nonsense and wanted a second opinion.’
Turns out the three cysts turned out to be cancerous tumors and the diagnosis was made after surgery.
Rather than wait to arrange an appointment with the gynecologist – which could take weeks – the doctor urged Chloe to go to the emergency room immediately for further examination.
Chloe then spent a grueling 15 hours from 10am on Thursday to 1am on Friday in the Emergency Room, being examined by doctors.
During that time, she underwent further blood tests, an ultrasound and visited a gynecologist.
‘It was a whirlwind. I just wanted to crumble and hide. The doctors acted so quickly and didn’t tell me everything that happened. I have given all my trust to the healthcare system.
‘No one gave me any clarity about what was going on, I just sat there crying and my mother had to hand over a backpack full of stuff. I was fasting, my phone died, it was a horrible time.”
Chloe described being in an emergency room for an extended period of time as ‘traumatic’ and she ‘begged’ them to let her leave.
The following Monday, backpack in hand and waving to her loved ones, she entered the same hospital where she was born to undergo “invasive” surgery.
“They couldn’t determine what I had until after the surgery, which is crazy,” she said. The surgery itself was ‘invasive’ as it required an incision from her navel to her bikini line (photo during chemotherapy treatment)
Overall, ovarian cancer is significantly underfunded and to confirm the diagnosis the tumor tissue must be examined under a microscope.
This is exactly what happened to Chloe, who only received an official diagnosis after surgery.
“They couldn’t determine what I had until after the surgery, which is crazy,” she said.
The surgery itself was ‘invasive’ as it required an incision from her navel to her bikini line.
Without family or friends by her side, Chloe found out she had stage three ovarian cancer after waking up in hospital.
‘My surgeon came to my hospital room, 1.5 meters away from me, wearing a mask, with my family on speakerphone, to deliver the result. “It’s still so traumatic,” she said.
‘That’s when I started to worry about my hair. “I have long hair, I love my hair and you only hear negative experiences about chemotherapy – it’s all scary and bleak,” she said.
One thing that gave her hope of saving her hair is cold capping – a worn device that reduces hair loss caused by certain types of chemotherapy.
She was terrified of losing her hair, but one thing that gave her hope of saving her hair is cold capping – a device worn that reduces the hair loss caused by certain types of chemotherapy.
It took ten weeks to recover from the operation and she learned to walk again with the help of a physiotherapist. After this, she started treatment, which lasted ten weeks
It took ten weeks to recover from the operation and she had to learn to walk again with the help of a physiotherapist.
After this, she started treatment, which lasted ten weeks.
“It was tiring and I was only studying one subject at the time,” she said.
‘I started cold capping from the first session and I didn’t mind. It worked pretty well, but my hair did get a bit thinner.’
As for side effects, she was put into medically induced menopause to preserve her fertility. She didn’t feel too sick, but admitted that she has since “blocked out” the trauma of the treatment from her mind.
On New Year’s Eve 2020, she underwent one final minor keyhole operation to check whether the chemotherapy had worked to kill the cancer cells.
On New Year’s Eve 2020, she underwent one final minor keyhole operation to check whether the chemotherapy had worked to kill the cancer cells. Today, Chloe takes a tablet daily to prevent the cancer from recurring
Chloe now takes a tablet daily to help prevent a recurrence of the cancer and is checked every three months.
However, she still lives in fear that the cancer will return.
“It’s very stressful and discouraging when I’m told there’s a good chance my cancer will come back,” she said.
‘I’m afraid it will come back without my knowledge because there are no symptoms of ovarian cancer. But I don’t want this one moment in my life to define me. It’s part of my journey, not part of who I am.”
Now Chloe is on a mission to share her story far and wide to educate others about the seriousness of ovarian cancer and how more research needs to be done.
“Doctors don’t seem to worry about the cause, they just look to the future and how to get rid of it,” she claims.
‘If instead, more should be done for women’s health and it should be talked about more often.
“If you think something is wrong or doesn’t feel right, ask your doctor because you know your body best.”
In 2022, a woman has an estimated risk of 1 in 84 (or 1.2 percent) of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Although ovarian cancer can occur in adults at any age, it is most common in women aged 85 and older.
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