Free Webinar and Symptom Tracker Bring Awareness to World Ovarian Cancer Day, May 8

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Approximately 140,000 women around the world die of ovarian cancer every year. It is a disease that is often misdiagnosed or discovered too late to save women's lives. Of all female cancers, it has the lowest survival rate and virtually any woman is capable of developing it.

On May 8, World Ovarian Cancer Day, Jen Coken, the daughter of a health-obsessed woman who died of the disease, is conducting a free webinar at noon EST about the symptoms of ovarian cancer and how women can talk to their doctor about them. Coken says the information is needed because many women are uncomfortable talking about their bodies with their physicians. She cites a survey in which 66 percent of women between 18 and 24 admitted they avoid going to the doctor because they can't bring themselves to say the word "vagina." And according to a survey by Ovarian Cancer Action, about 25 percent of young women don't seek medical attention because they don't know the words to use to describe their bodies.

Women with the greatest risk for ovarian cancer are those who test positive for the BRCA gene; they are 11 to 40 percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer than those who don't have the gene. Women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent are ten times more likely to be diagnosed with the BRCA 1 or 2 gene.

Ovarian cancer symptoms include bloating, eating problems such as feeling overly full after eating or losing your appetite, abdominal pain, trouble urinating or more frequent urination. Women can find a symptom card and tracker at https://www.jencoken.com/landing-symptom-tracker.

Coken says, "It's not enough to paint "Ovarian Cancer" on a sign and share it on Facebook. It's not enough to list the symptoms and expect people to go to their doctor immediately. Beating ovarian cancer is the message we need to spread. With a lack of research funding, there have been no significant improvements in detecting or treating ovarian cancer in the last 50 years except for one research study unearthed ten years after it started. In 2007, research determined that 75 percent of ovarian cancers actually begin in the fallopian tubes. This information has a great impact on the current and future treatment of ovarian cancer."

About Jen Coken

Jen Coken is the author of the memoir When I Die, Take My Panties: Turning Your Darkest Moments into Your Greatest Gifts. She is a coach, a speaker, a recovering stand-up comedian and can often be seen in the grocery aisle eating Nutella by the spoonful.

AVAILABILITY: Washington, D.C. metro area, nationwide by arrangement and via telephone CONTACT: Jen Coken, (303) 859-9081; [email protected]; www.jencoken.com.

SOURCE Jen Coken