18 March 2017
March 2017: Ovarian Cancer Month and Prostrate Cancer Month
Every March is two very important cancer awareness months relevant to Incontinence UK and its customers: Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. And Prostrate Cancer Awareness Month. Both these cancers can have an effect on your bladder and give some of our customer’s incontinence so we wanted to make you aware of these conditions and how you can help. Ovarian Cancer Month
Over 7,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year in the UK, and it remains the biggest killer among the gynaecological cancers – 4,100 women die from the disease each year.
Why is early diagnosis important?
Most women are diagnosed once the cancer has already spread which makes treatment more challenging. The current five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is 46 per cent. If diagnosed at the earliest stage, up to 90 per cent of women would survive five years or more. This is why early diagnosis is so important.
Research has shown that just 4 per cent of women in the UK are very confident about recognising a symptom of ovarian cancer. Typical symptoms are:
- Persistent pelvic or abdominal pain (tummy and below)
- Increased abdominal size/persistent bloating – not bloating that comes and goes
- Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
- Needing to wee more urgently or more often than usual
- needing to urinate more often than usual, including at night
- difficulty starting to urinate
- straining or taking a long time to finish urinating
- a weak flow when you urinate
- a feeling that you’re not emptying your bladder fully
- needing to rush to the toilet – sometimes leaking before you get there
- dribbling urine after you finish
- pain when urinating
- pain when ejaculating
- blood in your urine or semen
- Prostate Cancer UK’s March for Men is a series of walking events raising money to help stop prostate cancer being a killer.
- Throughout March; volunteers from Prostate Cancer UK will be working in your local community, giving group talks and providing information. All the volunteers have been affected by prostate cancer and know first-hand how scary and difficult it can be to deal with. If you would like to get involved or make a donation, visit the Prostrate Cancer UK website. You can also learn how to check your prostate, and if you have any questions there is a free and confidential helpline: 0800 074 8383.