My Darling Angie and the Gill Harler Fund Logo by Andy Bowen.
THE HISTORY OF OUR LOGO
When Gill first approached me to become involved in her campaign and specifically to design the logo, I was both thrilled and humbled.
The global emblem for ovarian cancer is a teal coloured ribbon. I have added three diamonds to represent the reasons why raising awareness of ovarian cancer is essential and each diamond tells a story…..
Our first diamond is in memory of the many thousands of women who have died as a result of this insidious disease.
We want to pay tribute to them and acknowledge the loss that must be endured by their families and friends.
Every year in the UK over 4000 women lose their lives to ovarian cancer. It is so easy to read that statistic and forget exactly what it means. It means devastated families left asking themselves What if….? What if the women they loved had been diagnosed earlier?
Women like Gill’s dear friend and my darling wife and soulmate, Angie Bowen.
At the age of forty seven Angie had everything to live for, a devoted husband, loving adult daughters and the absolute joy of her grandchildren. We had recently started our own business and she loved her job as a very popular dog groomer.
Angie was, in her own words, “absolutely content” with her life.
That all changed in December 2012 when she was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer; her prognosis was very poor.
Our shock, when we were told Angie had cancer, was compounded by the fact that her symptoms might have led to a much earlier diagnosis. For a long time, she had suffered with persistent bloating and abdominal pain. Her menstrual cycle had been disrupted for a couple of years and while she had never been a big eater she ate less and less, always feeling full very quickly. She also experienced night sweats and despite being forty seven years old Angie thought her problems were due to an early menopause. She did not seek medical advice assuming her doctor would just offer her HRT, which she did not want.
Like many women she just put up with it and got on with things.
She was wrong, it wasnot the menopause. It was the not so silent symptoms of ovarian cancer.
Angie sadly succumbed to her disease on Boxing Day 2014 aged just forty nine and exactly two years, two weeks and two days from her diagnosis.
What if she had been aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer?
What if I had known about them?
What if……
Perhaps I might still have had her sharing my life today.
Sadly Angie’s story is not unique. For many women it is typical of their own stories. Many women diagnosed with ovarian cancer tend to be older and postmenopausal but there is also a lack of awareness of the symptoms and some doctors may never even see a case of ovarian cancer throughout their entire career. Hardly surprising then that a disease which largely affects older women is not automatically considered when someone younger presents with the same symptoms. Countless women report they were treated for a considerable time for other conditions such as IBS before eventually reaching a cancer diagnosis…. at a much later stage.
Our second diamond is for all those women and their loved ones who continue to endure this disease and overcome all the things they must in order to prolong their lives together.
Our third diamond is for all the women yet to be diagnosed.
We hope our awareness campaign can go some way to helping women recognise the symptoms for an earlier diagnosis.
