Ovarian Cancer Awareness
If there was a moment of perfection in Louise Mitchell’s life it was April 2016. A fitness enthusiast, she was in the best shape of her life, she had met the love of her life on a dating website, and just a few months after their idyllic white wedding she was pregnant.
Excited as she underwent her first, routine scan, she was told medics had found an ovarian cyst. But cysts weren’t uncommon; there was no reason to be overly worried, Louise was told. And so life resumed its usual energetic pace with Louise committed to her daily training regime determined to prove that pregnancy was no obstacle to physical fitness.
Baby Beti arrived in October and once again, Louise, could not get over her luck. The ovarian cyst was removed during routine surgery a few months later. Four months later, the hammer blow news threatened all she was so grateful for. The cyst was malignant.
In her mid 30s she underwent an emergency hysterectomy. Cancer would mean she would never have any more children. But more of a priority than that was ensuring she was around for the child she had been blessed with.
Fighting the risk of being engulfed by sadness and depression, it was during her last of six chemotherapy sessions at Cardiff’s Velindre Hospital, Louise, now 37, vowed that some good would come out of her fear.
“Ovarian cancer is known as the ‘silent killer’ because there are often no symptoms before it is too late,” says Louise”. “Beti literally saved my life because had I not been pregnant with her there’s a very good chance the cancerous cyst would not have been discovered in time.”
Now in Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Louise is preparing to raise awareness among other women.
“Training in the gym was my lifeline throughout all this,” she adds. “It gave me the chance to take my mind off cancer, even during my treatment.”
“While I was sat there having my last cycle of chemotherapy, I came up with a plan to mark my return to fitness and try to put all this behind me and repay just some of the kindness Velindre had shown me.”
On June 6th 2018, Louise and 50 of her supporters from Force Strength and Conditioning Gym in Llandow, near Cardiff, will embark on the Welsh Three Peak Challenge – Snowdon, Cader Idris and Pen-y-Fan within 24 hours.
And if that was not challenging enough, they are finishing off the gruelling day with a final walk Gwaelod y Garth, on the outskirts of Cardiff.
For more information or to speak to Louise call 07970 042256 or email louise@llandow.com
