Rochdale woman is face of national ovarian cancer campaign

Pam Colligan

A Rochdale woman is raising awareness of ovarian cancer this March as part of Target Ovarian Cancer’s national campaign – ‘It’s time to TAKE OVAR’.

March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and Pam Colligan is spreading awareness in her community. 

Pam was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her 60s, and has had upwards of 10 rounds of chemotherapy to treat it. Pam had been healthy all her life, so never thought that she could be a candidate for cancer. She was diagnosed after finding a lump in her abdomen, and only went to the GP after being encouraged by others – she had been a nurse and put it down to fibroids, and so put it to the back of her mind.

Now 13 years post diagnosis, Pam is passionate about letting people know that you can live well with the disease, as she has continued to live a full and happy life throughout her experience with ovarian cancer.  

Women’s lives are being lost because of delays in ovarian cancer diagnosis, according to Target Ovarian Cancer. The contrast is stark. A woman with an early stage diagnosis of ovarian cancer has an over 90 per cent chance of surviving the disease. Yet one in five women (20 per cent) are too ill to receive any treatment by the time they finally receive a diagnosis.

Through the ‘It’s time to TAKE OVAR’ campaign, the charity is calling on the UK government to commit to action. The public can join the call to demand earlier diagnosis for all women at

• www.targetovariancancer.org.uk/TIME

Awareness of all four main symptoms of ovarian cancer is alarmingly low across the UK, leaving women without crucial knowledge that could save lives.

These symptoms are:

• Persistent bloating - not bloating that comes and goes
• Feeling full quickly and/or loss of appetite
• Pelvic or abdominal pain (that's your tummy and below)
• Urinary symptoms (needing to wee more urgently or more often than usual)