Perry Family Brings Awareness to Ovarian Cancer

Right now, every woman is at risk for ovarian cancer. One Perry family lost their mother to the disease in 2009 and they hope bringing awareness to the deadliest cancer of the female reproductive system will help save some of your loved ones.

“I miss her, I really miss her,” remembered Denise Posey, daughter of cancer victim.

Four sisters left without a mother.

“She was a strong woman, she raised four girls you gotta be strong,” said Terry Sandefur, daughter of cancer victim.

But in the end her strength wasn’t enough.

“As the cancer took over and the pain got worse, not eating, I felt like she was starving,” said Shelli Yoemans, daughter of cancer victim.

Denise, Robin, Terry and Shelli watched ovarian cancer take their mother’s life.

“It hurt, there’s nothing you can do,” expressed Yoemans.

It took only 13 months from the day Dorthy Sandefur was diagnosed to end her life at 71 years old.

“My mom was sick maybe a year and half two years, but nobody knew the symptoms of it so nobody ever thought about it,” said Yoemans.

“It whispers,” explained Posey.

Dr. Cheryl Jones with Georgia Cancer Specialist says a pap smear doesn’t detect the disease.

“There is no true prevention to ovarian cancer,” explained Dr. Jones.

Symptoms are hard to spot since they’re things women face regularly- bloating, nausea and indigestion.

“Every woman should be very aware of her body and any change in her symptoms. Ovarian cancer is often described as a silent killer because the symptoms are very subtle,” said Dr. Jones.

The National Ovarian Cancer Coalition says this year about 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and around 15,000 of those will lose their life to the disease.

“There’s not enough survivors out there to push the to get the awareness, the walks, the different organizations to recognize ovarian cancer,” said Sandefur.

Since ovarian cancer isn’t well-known, these sisters hope they’re story will help other become aware.

“I wish we could have found out earlier and that it could have been diagnosed earlier maybe we could have had my mom a lot longer,” said Posey.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.