A mother-of-one has warned women not to ignore a telltale sign of deadly ovarian cancer, which is often mistaken for an upcoming period.
Sophie Casey, 28, from Leeds, was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer in October which had spread across her body after experiencing extreme bloating that left her ‘looking nine months pregnant’.
However, both her GP and hospital doctors told her that the worrying symptom was nothing more than a common stomach infection.
She was prescribed antibiotics, which eventually caused her to vomit.
Now she faces a bleak prognosis and the possibility that she will have an ostomy bag fitted – a disposable bag that collects waste – due to damage to her intestines caused by the ovarian tumor.
“My symptoms could be my period,” Ms Casey said, adding that the bloating she was experiencing was something she had “never had before”.
“People might not think about it too much… but you have to know your body and know your cycle.”
After first visiting her GP in September, Ms Casey was told a common infection – such as one contracted from contaminated food – was likely behind her symptom.
Sophie Casey, 28, from Leeds was diagnosed with stage 4B ovarian cancer in October, after several visits to her GP, a misdiagnosis and multiple emergency visits
Mrs Casey, mother of one-year-old Henry and her partner George Burril (pictured) are raising money to help them make memories as a family and raise cancer awareness
But when it didn’t go away, she visited her local emergency room.
Doctors initially gave her antibiotics, but they did not work, causing her to return to the hospital.
‘TThey did some tests there and some scans and they said they found a mass,” she said Leeds Live.
After further tests, Ms Casey spoke to an oncologist who diagnosed her.
She said: ‘They told me it was terminal. Somewhat treatable, but not curable.
‘I’ve had to have three rounds of chemotherapy and they’ll see how it responds before they can give me a life expectancy.’
Before her chemotherapy, which ends at the end of December, Ms Casey had 16 liters of fluid drained from her stomach.
The mass was also pushing against the intestines, meaning she was at risk of a bowel obstruction and was told to be on high alert for surgery and an ostomy bag.
Mrs Casey, mother of one-year-old Henry, and her partner George Burril, are now raise funds to help them make memories as a family and raise cancer awareness.
Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer in Britain.
The disease kills around 11 women every day in Britain, or 4,000 a year.
Ovarian cancer is a rare form of the disease that develops in the ovaries, the female organs that produce eggs. It is often called a ‘silent killer’ because symptoms only appear late in the disease.
Ms Casey urges women to look out for changes in the menstrual cycle and any symptoms which could be ‘everyday problems’
It also kills three times as many women in the US every year, figures show.
The diagnosis is often made late because the symptoms are vague and resemble other less serious problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome.
These may include indigestion, pelvic or abdominal pain, loss of appetite, constipation and increased urination.
About 93 percent of women diagnosed live for five years or more if the disease is caught in its earliest stages, compared to just 13 percent when diagnosed at stage four.
Ms Casey was diagnosed with stage 4B ovarian cancer, which means the disease has spread to the liver or spleen, lymph nodes outside the abdomen or to other organs such as the lungs, Cancer Research UK said.
About a fifth of women with ovarian cancer are also diagnosed in the emergency room, while it is often too late for any treatment.
Although most cases of the disease are diagnosed in women between the ages of 75 and 79, cases are increasing among younger people.
Since the early 1990s, rates have risen 78 percent among women under 24 and 10 percent among women aged 25 to 49, according to data from Cancer Research.
Ms Casey urges women to look out for changes in the menstrual cycle and any symptoms that could be ‘everyday problems’.
“Don’t be put off by doctors saying you’re young,” she added.
“My doctor told me it’s ‘not common in women your age’ and I said ‘that’s the problem, that’s what I want to change’… (that view).”