Ovarian Cancer Information:

- 70% of women die within 5 years of diagnosis
- 90% of women die within 10 years of diagnosis
- women with cancer caught in stage 1 have a 90% chance of survival
- there is no test for early detection
- 1500 women die of ovarian cancer each year in Canada

Ovarian cancer is called the cancer that whispers because the symptoms (eg. gas, weight gain, fatigue, bloating, frequent urination) are too easily dismissed as stemming from other causes. There is no overt sign a woman has ovarian cancer and, as a result, the diagnosis often comes once it its too late to save her life.

Where HUNT FOR THE CURE money will go:

"Serous epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common and most lethal type of ovarian cancer. This subtype of ovarian cancer has traditionally been assumed to originate in the ovaries, however, in the late 1990's, an alternative theory was developed, that serous epithelial ovarian cancer sometimes (or always) originates in the fallopian tubes and spreads to the ovaries."

"In order to investigate this promising new approach to early detection of ovarian cancer, in October 2006, the Canary Foundation initiated a collaboration with expert researchers at the University Health Network/Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Canada. The first phase of our program will involve extensive analysis of surgically removed fallopian tubes from high risk women and normal risk women, with the goal being to identify changes in the fallopian tubes of high-risk women that are not seen in the ovaries of normal risk women. Such changes may represent very early events in the development of ovarian cancer ('precursor lesions'). If we are able to identify such changes, we will undertake a more extensive research program in order to generate potential biomarkers based on studies of these 'precursor lesions'."   The Canary Foundation