Ovarian Cancer Survivor Urges Women to Trust Their Bodies

Megan Dach was 34 when her body started sending signals she couldn't ignore. Back pain arrived first, then her menstrual cycle began behaving strangely. She knew something was off, but the feeling was vague enough that it took three separate visits to her doctor before anyone ordered the imaging that might explain it.

When the ultrasound came back, it showed a mass on her right ovary. The radiologist's initial estimate was ten centimeters. That number changed dramatically once surgeons opened her up and saw the tumor in person—it was nearly twice as large, closer to twenty centimeters. The pathology report that followed confirmed what Dach had begun to fear: ovarian cancer. The same workup also revealed endometrial cancer.

Dach's persistence in returning to her doctor, in refusing to accept vague reassurance, likely saved her life. "If I hadn't gone back, like, who knows when we would have figured it out," she said later. The cancer was caught at stage one, the earliest point in its progression. She would undergo chemotherapy and multiple surgeries to treat it. During one post-treatment scan, radiologists spotted what looked like spreading cancer, prompting another operation. When surgeons explored, they found only scar tissue—a false alarm that turned into relief.

Dr. Kristen Stearns, the gynecologic oncologist at UW Health who treated Dach, explained why ovarian cancer is so often discovered late. The disease doesn't announce itself with a single, unmistakable symptom. Instead, it whispers through a collection of complaints that could mean almost anything: pelvic pain, nausea, bloating, a feeling of fullness that comes too quickly when eating, shifts in bowel or urinary function. Women experience these things all the time for benign reasons. Ovarian cancer hides inside that noise.

Stearns recommends that anyone noticing changes in their body that fall outside their normal range—and that persist for a month or longer—should bring them to their doctor's attention. "I think it's really critical to listen to your body and to acknowledge when something feels like it's out of the range of normal for you," Stearns said, "especially even if you're an otherwise young, healthy person."

Dach's case carried an additional layer of complexity. Genetic testing revealed she has Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that significantly elevates the risk of developing multiple cancer types. The syndrome contributed directly to her developing both ovarian and endometrial cancer at such a young age. Understanding one's genetic risk factors, Stearns emphasized, is part of staying vigilant.

Today, Dach is in remission. She has a biopsy scheduled and a final scan coming in December. She has become an advocate for other women, particularly during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, pushing them to trust what their bodies are telling them and to push back when doctors dismiss their concerns. "If you have any idea that you feel like maybe something is wrong," she said, "advocate for yourself to get them to do more."

The broader challenge remains unchanged: there is no screening test for ovarian cancer equivalent to the mammogram that catches breast cancer in its early stages. Researchers continue working toward better detection methods, but until those tools exist, the burden falls on individuals to know themselves, to notice when something shifts, and to insist on answers.