It was 2016. I started a walking program—10,000 steps daily. After about 6 weeks I noticed a nagging ache in my low back. It persisted for about 3 weeks and I thought I’d pulled a muscle doing housework, gardening, or walking.

I was also an avid popcorn addict. One Saturday evening I ate a bag of microwave popcorn. By midnight I was in agony. I told my adult daughter(an RN) who lives with me I was going to the ER to be treated for diverticulitis—it runs in my family (mother, father, 2 brother). She told me not to tell the ER my “self diagnosis” and I said “of course not, I’m going to tell him my symptoms and he’s going to tell me I have diverticulitis.”

I still remember the shock when the ER doctor came in and said, “well I have some bad news. It’s not diverticulitis. (I had not mentioned the condition to him.) I’m certain it’s ovarian cancer and we have a specialist coming in to see you. She’ll be here within a few hours. It was a Sunday morning. She was there before 8 a.m.

Today I’m a six year ovarian cancer survivor because it was detected early, aggressive treatment was started immediately, and I had the support of my family and an incredible medical team. (My oncologist is Dr. Hope! Isn’t that the best possible name?)