Hoover mom carries teal torch to take on GYN cancers

Kelly Rice’s vehicle license plate placard tells the story of her battle with ovarian cancer. She’s “Ova It.”

Rice, who lives off Patton Chapel Road in Hoover, has been in remission for more than 16 years. But while she has won her personal battle with the disease, she’s not done fighting.

Over the past six years, Rice has played a big part in raising awareness across Alabama about ovarian and other gynecologic cancers. In 2012, in conjunction with the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation, she helped start a statewide campaign called “A State of Teal” that seeks to get prominent buildings across Alabama lit up in the color of teal during the month of September to raise awareness about gynecologic cancers.

The idea was to light up the state with teal, much like many buildings take on a pink hue in October to bring attention to breast cancer.

The effort has grown to include more than 140 locations, including Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, the Bayou City Bridge in Gulf Shores, Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile, Jackson Hospital in Montgomery and the Retirement Systems of Alabama buildings in Mobile and Montgomery.

In the Birmingham area, places lit up with teal will include Birmingham City Hall, the Hoover Municipal Center, the Linn-Henley Research Library and the Electra statue on top of the Alabama Power building in downtown Birmingham, Rice said.

A kickoff event for this year is planned at Newk’s Eatery in Vestavia Hills on Sept. 6. All Newk’s locations in the Birmingham-Hoover area, Auburn, Montgomery and Opelika are donating 10 percent of their sales from 4 to 8 p.m. to the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation, which focuses on early detection research, awareness education, and support services for gynecologic cancer patients and families.

Prepared but surprised

Rice has a family history of cancer. One of her grandmothers and an aunt both died from ovarian cancer, and another relative on her mother’s side had breast cancer. Relatives on her father’s side battled pancreatic and skin cancers.

That prompted Rice to become an oncology nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital so she would be prepared to deal with the disease if she ever encountered it. But ovarian cancer still snuck up on her, she said.

Her obstetrician spotted an abnormality when he did a C-section for the birth of her second child in September 2001. The doctor at first thought it might be endometriosis, but it turned out to be ovarian cancer instead.

Rice was shocked. “It was the last thing on my mind,” she said. “I was an oncology nurse. I knew all the signs and symptoms.”

She had indeed experienced some symptoms but had wrongly associated them with her pregnancy, she said. She is thankful her doctor took notice. “I went in to have a baby, and it ended up saving my life.”

One problem with ovarian cancer is that there is no screening test. Doctors rely on symptoms for diagnosis, and most of the time, by the time it is diagnosed, the cancer has progressed too far, Rice said. The average life expectancy is 18 months after diagnosis, she said.

Her cancer was found early and was slow-growing. She had a hysterectomy and chemo treatments every three to four weeks for six to eight months, and “that was all I needed,” she said.

She has been in remission ever since. There’s always a chance of recurrence and she still sees her oncologist every year, but Rice believes she’s done with it.

Now, her focus is on helping others. She spends six to eight hours each week onwork with the Laura Crandall Brown Foundation.

In 2011, Rice was a recipient of the American Cancer Society’s Life Inspiration Award, and in May of this year, she was appointed to the new Alabama Study Commission for Gynecologic Cancers, which is tasked with developing recommendations for better detection and treatment and ways to better support patients and their families.

Alabama ranks in the top five states in the nation for cervical and ovarian cancer deaths.

Rice also thinks she may return to her job as an oncology nurse once her youngest son goes to college in two years. She’d like to think she could provide more hope to patients since she is indeed “ova it.”

For more information about gynecological cancers, go to thinkoflaura.org.

Facts about gynecologic cancers

► More than 30,000 women die from gynecologic cancers (ovarian, cervical, endometrial/uterine, vaginal and vulvar) each year.

► Alabama ranks in the top five states for both cervical and ovarian cancer deaths.

► There is no early detection/screening test for four out of five gynecologic cancers.

► Most ovarian cancer diagnoses don’t occur until the cancer has reached Stage 3 or Stage 4.

► The average life expectancy after diagnosis of ovarian cancer is 18 months.

► The survival rate for ovarian cancer with early detection is greater than 90 percent.

Source: Laura Crandall Brown Foundation

Ovarian cancer symptoms

► Abnormal vaginal bleeding or discharge.

► Feeling full too quickly or difficulty eating.

► Pelvic pain or pressure.

► More frequent and/or urgent need to urinate and/or constipation.

► Bloating.

► Abdominal or back pain.

► Note: Most of these symptoms can also be caused by problems other than cancer.

When these symptoms are caused by ovarian cancer, they tend to happen more often or get worse. If you have symptoms that you can’t explain nearly every day for more than a few weeks, talk to your doctor right away.

Source: Laura Crandall Brown Foundation