When Lynne Jopp started to sweat and feel bloated she was convinced she was going through the menopause.
Fast approaching her 50th birthday, she was expecting to start experiencing the symptoms soon.
“I thought it was just with the hormones being all over the place,” she explains.
After speaking to her GP about her symptoms, Lynne asked if it was down to the midlife change.
She was advised to try losing some weight but found that was a struggle.
Thankfully, Lynne, of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, booked in for another appointment with a GP for further checks.
‘I looked like I was pregnant’
Lynne started to grow concerned when she noticed an “uncomfortable” feeling on the side of her stomach as well as the bloating.
“One night I was lying on the settee watching a film and my son turned round and said to me ‘Mum you look pregnant’,” she says.
“I did think I’d been feeling a bit bloated but thought it was the menopause.
“I had a little pain in the side of my rib, but it wasn’t really painful, it was more uncomfortable.
“I just thought it was something I needed to get checked.”
Then she got the cancer diagnosis
The GP who examined Lynne’s stomach told the mum-of-two he was referring her for an emergency scan at her local hospital.
In December 2020 she was diagnosed with a large cyst on her right ovary.
Booked in for surgery the following month, she ended up getting a full hysterectomy. But the cyst, which weighed 11lbs and needed to be removed, burst.
Lynne spent a week in hospital recovering hoping this would be the end of her ordeal but even worse news was yet to come.
A medic called her three weeks after the operation to let her know they’d discovered cancer in the cyst they’d removed.
Doctors recommended that she came back to hospital for six months of chemotherapy treatments.
Finding out she had cancer was difficult news to accept.
“I was just numb,” Lynne says.
“The first night you can’t sleep. Everything is going round your head, wondering if you’re going to see your daughter get married, and your grandchildren.
“It was just something that came out of the blue; it was scary.”
What helped Lynne cope?
Lynne’s body suffered a reaction to the first chemotherapy session and she also lost her hair.
But she persevered with the rest of the treatments knowing that it would help her.
During her last session she moved into a new house in Inverurie with her 56-year-old husband Christopher.
Although it was a peaceful place to recover, the couple had yet another health battle to get through. Christopher suffered a heart attack in October last year.
It was five years after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Knowing her husband had got through his own cancer battle helped Lynne deal with her own diagnosis.
“I think I coped with it because my husband had had cancer and I had been through it with him,” she said.
“You just have to get on with it. There’s nothing else you can do but just do what the hospital recommends.”
She lost a stone-and-a-half after the large cyst was removed
Lynne says reading about comedian Janey Godley’s cancer journey encouraged her to speak out too to help raise awareness of the symptoms.
Through chats with other women on ovarian cancer forums she was saddened to realise how many young females also end up being diagnosed with the condition.
She says it’s important to realise it’s not a cancer picked up on smear tests, it’s just a case of knowing your own body and looking out for typical signs.
Looking back now, Lynne realises she started really noticing something was not right with her body around six months before she was booked in for the emergency scan.
She felt really tired and was going to the toilet a lot more than she usually would.
She was struggling to lose weight – but lost a stone-and-a-half after the heavy cyst was removed.
Ovarian cancer is often called the “silent killer” and Lynne is concerned other women might not know of the signs to look out for.
Or they might mistake them for the uncomfortable feelings you get when you’re going through your menstrual cycle.
On realising she had to give up her job…
After having a hysterectomy to remove her ovaries, Lynne is now going through the menopause and is struggling with tiredness and other symptoms.
She also developed neuropathy, a side effect of chemotherapy which causes numbness in your hands and feet as well as nerve pain.
Lynne, who was employed as a support worker for children with special needs, soon realised she would need to give up her job.
“I was stressed with my work. It was a hard job when you have all the paperwork so I made the decision that after 18 years I wasn’t going to go back,” she says.
“I just didn’t feel fit enough.”
Going through ovarian cancer helps her stop worrying about things
Her caring family have been “brilliant” with all their support throughout Lynne’s cancer journey.
On Mother’s Day last year, her son Lewis, 24, and 28-year-old daughter Natalie raised £2,500 along with their partners for charity.
They completed a 41km walk from Ballater to Aberdeen over two days.
Natalie also recently took her mum down to London as a treat for her 50th birthday to attend the ABBA Voyage concert.
And Lynne’s mum Maureen Stevenson has also been supportive.
“My family say to me that I’ve come out of myself,” Lynne, who turned 50 last December, says.
“I used to be someone who always worried about everything but I just want to do everything now.
“You never think you’re going to get cancer. They caught mine early and I was lucky it was contained inside the ovary.
“I know I’m luckier than other people.”
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