Living with terminal ovarian cancer (Carol’s story)

March 1, 2011

In this video, Carol O. talks having cervical cancer at age 31 and then being diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer 22 years later

Watch as Carol talks about how her second cancer diagnosis wasn’t a shock and how she had kind of been waiting for it, check up to check up. She also talks about accepting that her ovarian cancer was terminal and telling doctors that she didn’t want a hard death.

She shares how she’s decided to live well with cancer as long as she can. She discusses how she now has good days and bad days when before, she had good weeks and bad weeks. She also talks about being pragmatic about the future.

People, with the best of intentions, quite often end up isolating the patient and when the normal frustrations and irritations of the day… people don’t tell you because what you’re dealing with is so much heavier. And they don’t realize that they’re denying their wife or mother or whatever the opportunity to be supportive and to be there for you and to feel that maybe you’re helping. Or that you’re helping at least by listening and maybe you may have more concrete help to offer.

Watch the video of Carol O. talking about living with terminal ovarian cancer

The Partnership’s Person-Centred Perspective initiative is committed to improving the patient experience. We are working with partners across Canada to find the best ways to offer a person-centred perspective throughout a person’s cancer journey and to help information flow throughout. The impact of a cancer diagnosis goes far beyond the physical disease. It affects every aspect of a person’s life. The initiative has focused on reporting about the patient experience, and giving health-care providers patient-centred tools and resources, which have been validated and standardized.

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