I Was 35 And Healthy—Until I Was Diagnosed With Ovarian Cancer
Two years ago, Sherry Pollex was feeling off: She was very bloated ("I looked like I was 3 months pregnant," she remembers) and had extreme abdominal pain.
"You know when something doesn't feel right," she says. "And I just knew something was really wrong."
Like any health-conscious woman, she went to her primary care physician and was referred to an ob-gyn. The conclusion of an ultrasound: benign ovarian cysts. Nothing more.
Unfortunately, the doctors were wrong. Pollex's pain worsened to debilitating pelvic woes. So just before jetting off on a vacation, she called a family friend, a gastrointestinal surgeon, and asked for a CT scan.
When the results came in, the doctor told Pollex to come in immediately-and to bring her family: The scan revealed tumors all over her pelvic area and abdomen. Pollex was diagnosed with ovarian cancer-specifically, stage III primary peritoneal carcinoma.
"When someone tells you something scary like that, that moment is forever ingrained in your head," she says. "I was in shock. I was 35 and perfectly healthy with no family history of ovarian cancer."
Pollex's boyfriend, NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr., and her mother broke down in tears. Her response? "I said to the doctor, 'What do I need to do to beat this?'" she says. "In that moment, I was in survival mode."
Pollex's doctor urged her to get to a major medical center-fast. If she didn't, she could be dead by Christmas. It was August 7.
A Road to Recovery
Five days post-diagnosis, Pollex underwent a grueling 7-hour debulking surgery, when a gynecologic oncology surgeon removed as many of the malignant tumors as possible, which would enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Pollex would need 17 months of chemo.
Starting chemo a month after that kind of procedure was tough, especially considering the powerful drugs were pumped through her abdomen.
"I felt like my body was just recovering from the surgery and then they wanted to hit me with 8 hours of toxic chemicals once a week," says Pollex. "I was emotionally and physically exhausted." She lost her tastebuds, her appetite, 27 pounds of healthy weight, her eyebrows, her eyelashes, and her hair.
But, as she puts it, "you don't get a reprieve when you're fighting a deadly disease. You just dig in and do it. You want to live so bad."
A longtime advocate of pediatric cancer research through the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation, she also felt the need to fight on behalf of the children. "What a hypocrite I would be if I had spent all these years teaching my cancer kids to fight and then didn't try to beat it myself," she says.
So she fought.
The Aftermath
After major surgery and almost a year and a half of chemo, today-2 years later-Pollex says she's lucky: She's cancer-free-for now. "I never take one day of being healthy for granted," she says. "I know that any day, cancer can rear its ugly head again."
She's right: Statistics from Texas Oncology suggest the recurrence rate for advanced stage ovarian cancer is between 60 and 80%.
Though she suffers from fibrosis-when scar tissue builds up, causing pain-Pollex is doing relatively well. "I had to change some of the things I was doing physically," she says. Because of the scar tissue, once-normal runs are now too painful, so she's taken up yoga and pilates and walks 3 miles a day. These are small changes in the scheme of things. "Altering your lifestyle isn't a huge sacrifice when you're just happy to be alive," says Pollex.
Of course, emotionally, it's been hard. It "was tough to know that I couldn't have kids," she says. (Pollex's surgery included a complete hysterectomy.)
But out of struggle comes a bright side. "You notice the sky is bluer and the grass is greener," she says. "You wake up each day grateful to be there to make memories with family and friends. And you have a newfound purpose to educate other women about your experience so they don't have to go through what you've been through."
A New Mission
Since her diagnosis and treatment, Pollex started the website sherrystrong.org-a resource to empower women to know their bodies and recognize symptoms of ovarian cancer. "You have to be your own advocate for your health," she says. "Had I not called our family friend and told him how much pain I was in that day, I wouldn't be here today." You know your body best. And sometimes you need to be the one to demand a test or ask questions.
Pollex is passionate about educating people on the options they have if, one day, they're faced with a cancer scare. She's a huge supporter of the Vermillion OVA1 blood test-the first FDA-approved blood test to evaluate cancer risk in a pelvic mass. "You can ask for it in the doctor's office if you're diagnosed with a pelvic mass," says Pollex, noting she wishes she knew about it when she was told she had "benign" ovarian cysts.
OVA1 results help ID cancer risk and guide next steps-namely, toward a gynecologic oncology surgeon if you're at high risk for cancer. (If you have a pelvic mass, you can also take a quiz at knowpelvicmass.com to learn about your risk.)
Family history plays a huge role in knowing disease risk, too. While Pollex wasn't "at risk" due to family history, if you are, testing for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation can help you know where you stand.
"Knowledge is power," says Pollex. "And we can't change the survival statistics until we teach women what to look for and what to ask for."
While ovarian cancer may be rare, the number is still significant. More than 22,000 women are diagnosed every year, and more than 14,000 women die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.
And as Pollex says, "What is the definition of 'rare' when it's your sister, daughter, or mother?"
This story was originally published by our partners at WomensHealthMag.com.
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