Jane Ludemann went through an arduous journey with ovarian cancer that had to be treated with a hormone inhibitor in lieu of chemotherapy.  With this devastating news came the realization she would not be able to bear children.

 

Jane was in her early thirties, had just gotten married and her career as an optometrist in her native New Zealand was taking off.  Although she had been in good health, Jane began to notice changes.  Her bowel habits were different, she had to urinate often, she tired easily and experienced a loss is appetite.

 

She sought medical attention, and doctors told her she had a free-moving, six-centimeter cancerous tumor that at times wrapped itself around her ovary.  One doctor said it could be diverticulitis, a gastrointestinal disease, or a cyst, but that at her age, she should be okay.  However, the pain that accompanied the tumor intensified and a surgical procedure was performed to remove the tumor.  They said they didn’t think it was cancerous and that the growth was fibroid, a benign growth on the uterus. 

 

Meanwhile, subsequent blood tests revealed that the mass wasn’t just a benign fibroid, but it appeared to be something more serious.  The mass was sent to pathologists in Australia.  Then Jane was sent to a gynecologist, who told her she had ovarian cancer.  This would require a second procedure to remove the ovary that had been enveloped by the mass.

 

Jane Ludemann was also told it was a rare type of ovarian cancer called Low-Grade Serous Carcinoma, which makes up about five percent of ovarian cancers, and that most of the time it is not survivable.  Doctors said chemotherapy was not an option because it doesn’t cure this diagnosis.

 

Since 2017, Jane has been on a treatment that is hormone inhibitor, which removes all the estrogen from her body. 

 

When the second surgery was performed, they thought the cancer had not spread from her ovary, and if that had been the case, her chances of survival would have been close to 90 percent.  But it had spread, chemotherapy was no longer an option. 

 

The hormone inhibitor has some nasty side effects.  Jane temporarily lost her vision, but got it back; lingering side effects are joint pain and fatigue.  She also has short-term memory loss, so her phone’s calendar and alerts help in a big way. 

 

These days, Jane Ludemann can still go hiking and rock climbing, but she cannot do everything she could before her diagnosis.  She comes up with coping strategies to do as much as she can, knowing that some things just aren’t as easy as they used to be.

 

Jane was dismayed to learn there are very few support options for someone with ovarian cancer, especially her rare type of the disease.  So, she founded an organization that raises money for research, so that researchers can find better treatments for survival.

 

Originally named Cure Our Ovarian Cancer, the organization now is known as Ovarian Cancer Foundation NZ.

 

Additional Resources:

 

Ovarian Cancer Foundation NZ  www.ovariancancerfoundation.org.nz