This prompted a discussion in the WCSUK private chat group as to why the discussion focussed just on ovarian cancer when women with womb cancer have the same issues.
Womb cancer is the 4th most common female cancer in the UK, indeed more women are diagnosed with womb cancer than with ovarian yet it is very rarely talked about in the media or given any publicity. There is no national awareness campaign so women will continue to be diagnosed with a cancer that very few of them know anything about.
There is plenty of publicity about ovarian cancer and cervical cancer so why not womb cancer?
Well, there could be several reasons! One is possibly that womb cancer is easily treatable (if caught early) and the survival outcomes are quite good compared to ovarian and cervical, even when they are caught early.
Another reason could be that womb cancer is seen as a cancer that post menopausal women get - although we know that the cases of younger women being diagnosed are on the increase.
Womb cancer is also seen as a cancer that women somehow bring on themselves for being obese and lazy - yet again we know that is not the case. Statistics show that only around 40% of womb cancer cases can be attributed to obesity - what about the other 60%? Where is the research being done to explain the causes of these women being diagnosed?
Whatever the reasons, one thing is clear. 23 women each day in the UK are being diagnosed with a cancer that not many of them will know anything about and that needs to change. The numbers will only go on increasing unless there is a national awareness campaign.
Ignoring it won't make it go away. Those of us that have had it should not be the ones that are doing all the talking about womb cancer. We have enough to deal with in our lives - diagnosis, treatment, side effects, etc , without having the added pressure of being the only ones out there raising awareness of this cancer.
It is time for womb cancer to be talked about as much as other cancers - and we need all the voices we can get to help us be heard.
xx Kaz xx