Ovarian cancer claims more lives each year than all other gynaecological cancers combined. Yet awareness of its symptoms remains dangerously low. Nearly half of women with ovarian cancer are only taken seriously once their symptoms become so severe that they require emergency admission. Alarmingly, just 1 in 3 cases of ovarian cancer is identified at the earliest stages when treatment is most effective.

Ovarian Cancer Action, the UK charity dedicated to improving outcomes for those affected, calls this a national health crisis.

For more than a year and a half before her diagnosis, Natasha visited her doctor nearly every month, convinced that something was seriously wrong. Yet her healthcare providers consistently attributed her symptoms to Reizdarmsyndrom (IBS) and endometriosis - common conditions she was already managing at the time.

Natasha Reynolds, who waited 18 months for an ovarian cancer diagnosis

When Natasha first realised something was wrong

When Natasha began showing symptoms of ovarian cancer, she was at university, balancing a busy schedule of studying, working a part-time job, and volunteering. The symptoms started as minor niggles but gradually developed into more noticeable changes, signalling that something unusual was happening in her body.

“I suddenly developed bad hormonal cystic acne,” she describes. “Then I noticed that I was becoming increasingly more bloated - a symptom that, as time went on, became considerably worse."

The bloating was constant for Natasha. She often went to sleep in discomfort, woke up the same way, and sometimes had no choice but to sleep sitting upright. She then started having heartburn - a symptom she had previously experienced only occasionally - followed by a frequent urge to pee.

She says: “I would have to get up midway through a lecture and go to the toilet, which is not something I was used to having to do.”

Over time, Natasha also began feeling full more quickly and often couldn’t finish her meals. As these symptoms piled up, she suspected they might be related to her IBS or Endometriose - especially the bloating.

“It's a very common overlapping symptom of both of them,” she explains. “But the longer it went on and the more severe it got, I knew that it couldn't have been that. I started to wonder whether I’d developed a food allergy. But food allergy symptoms weren't stacking up with what I was experiencing.”

Natasha had persistent bloating that seemed unrelated to her IBS or endometriosis

Natasha tried to manage the symptoms herself, but when they didn’t improve, she sought medical help. Despite several visits to her doctor, she felt that her worries weren’t being taken seriously. Though these symptoms were unlike anything she had experienced before and didn’t fit the pattern of her usual health conditions, they were brushed off as minor or less concerning.

“The GP I saw at the time was my university doctor, so most of their patients were between 18 and 25,” Natasha explains. “I think part of the reason my cancer took so long to diagnose was that I didn’t fit the expected age range, combined with the fact that women’s health concerns are often brushed off as overdramatic.

“But just because cancer is less common at my age doesn’t mean it can’t happen. And at no point before I was hospitalised did anyone even touch my tummy to examine it.”

After more than a year of obvious pain and growing discomfort, Natasha was rushed into emergency care in March 2024. In the weeks leading up to this, her condition had worsened so much that she could no longer wear tights or button her trousers, as the pressure on her stomach was unbearably painful.

“I had come home from university to Sheffield to celebrate both my birthday and my anniversary with my partner,” she recalls. “Then all of a sudden, I had the most severe, sudden Bauchschmerzen I’ve ever experienced in my life.

“I was in so much pain, I couldn’t move, that I wondered whether my appendix had burst.”

After calling 111 - the NHS helpline for non-urgent medical advice - Natasha was told a doctor would call her back within two hours. More than eight hours later, she finally received a call with a diagnosis of a kidney infection.

“I didn’t think it was a kidney infection,’ she says. “I used to get them a lot when I was younger, and the pain was nothing like what I’d experienced before. I was advised to book an appointment with my GP, but I couldn’t, since I was at home rather than at my university, where I was registered.”

Unable to see her GP, Natasha decided to try a walk-in centre, where she was seen almost immediately. After a physical examination of her abdomen, she was admitted to the nearest accident and emergency department. There, she finally received a full examination, which eventually revealed a 20-centimetre cancerous tumour on one ovary and a 14-centimetre cyst on the other.

"Once I’d had those initial tears, I just felt numb,” Natasha recalls. “After so long, I was finally being listened to, and there was a sense of relief - that maybe now I was going to see the right people. But I still struggle to come to terms with how my diagnosis happened. It should never have gone that way.

“I had 34 centimetres of growth inside my body that shouldn’t have been there. And at no point before I was hospitalised did anyone put their hands on my tummy to feel it.”

Natasha today with her partner Tom

Natasha urges women who notice unusual symptoms to seek medical advice without delay. And if their concerns are brushed aside, as hers were, she says it’s important to trust your own body and have the courage to insist on being heard.

“You understand what is normal for you,” she says. “You ultimately know, for the most part, when something isn't right. When your normal changes, there needs to be some investigation. For me, if I hadn’t taken the time to research my symptoms, and gone to A&E when I did, I can’t imagine how much longer my tumour might have been left to grow undetected.

“I think a health professional should always be very aware of that. You don't live in that person's body. You only know what they're experiencing by what they tell you. So believe them.”