best wishes to you all

Hi

I mailed you all a while back telling you the my mams story. I just wanted to mail to send everyone best wishes and hope they are doing ok.

Also i am so appreciative of this website, i live in ireland and over the past few weeks have been doing some research in to ovarian cancer here. We have in ireland a support group called the irish cancer society and within that there are sub support groups for the various cancers, there are subsupport groups for women with breast cancer, people with lung cancer etc, there are none for ovarian cancer because the cases of ovarian here arent as high as breast cancer etc its felt that there is no need for a support group for woman that suffer with ovarian. The irish cancer society are great for fundraising and supporting people with cancer but i found with my mam before she died that she would have loved to have a support group to talk to people that were also going through or had been through the same as her.

Over here in ireland there is so so so little known about ovarian cancer that its frightening, its amazing, there are no leaflets or media info about it the way there are for other cancers and i am wondering is it the same in america????

I found a site on the web that highlighted to me that Teal Ribbon day is something that happens in america for ovarian cancer, i found that on the website called ovarian.org and unfortunatley there is nothing like that here in ireland, we have a national daffodil day for the cancer society and a pink ribbon day for breast cancer and i am hoping that some day we here will get to have a teal ribbon day for ovarian cancer.

I think sites like this are so important, i have learned so much from talking to people etc and i am trying to get more awareness made of ovarian cancer here in ireland, its hard going but its something i feel should be done due to the silent nature of the illness.

I recently found out that there are approximately 312 new cases of ovarian cancer in the Republic of Ireland every year (which represents 3% of the total number of new cases of cancer in females) and 218 deaths from ovarian cancer every year (which represents 6% of the total number of deaths from cancer in females every year) and still there is no awareness program via the media etc about this cancer...... i have set myself a project to try and get an awareness/education program up and running here in ireland so that both men and women are aware that ovarian exists and what the symptoms of it are etc, i am also hoping to try get a teal ribbon day over here in ireland also, i think due to the silent nature of the illness, it deserves to get a high profile. Has anyone any advice on how i could do complete my project....any websites where i could get more info etc i would greatly appreciate it.

I just want to say how privileged i feel to have this website which has enabled me to make contact with people who are going through such incredible journeys, every single one of you are amazing. Both my mam and all of you have inspired me to increase the profile of ovarian cancer here in ireland .
There is nothing as bad as feeling isolated and lonely when you have an illness and cant talk to anyone who has gone through or is going through the same, i know my own mam god rest her, felt like that at times.

I send you all lots of hugs and good wishes from ireland and the very best of luck with all you are going through.

love
sharr