Two years ago, I received the unsettling news that my DNA harbors a genetic variant that highly increases my risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
To address the increased risk of breast cancer, my doctor proposed a more intensive screening program than what is recommended for women at average risk. The doctor also discussed various medications that could lower my risk of breast cancer. It is up to me to decide what to do with my body, obviously, but it is reassuring to know that I have options.
Short of surgically removing my ovaries, though, there was nothing my doctor could do to address my increased risk of ovarian cancer. There are no equivalents of mammograms or other tests that can reliably detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. There are no medications I can take to lower my risk of ovarian cancer, especially now that I’ve reached menopause.
Ovarian cancer is not as common as breast cancer, but it is much more deadly. And while survival rates for ovarian cancer have gotten better in the last decades, they are still much lower than in breast cancer: more than 90% of people with breast cancer survive at least 5 years after diagnosis, but that number is only slightly higher than 50% in ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is scary.
As we reach the end of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, it is therefore with a heavy heart that I read about the proposed budget cuts to research for ovarian cancer research and education that may affect more than one federal agency.
At the National Institutes of Health, several grants specifically focusing on ovarian cancer research have already been terminated. The proposed budget cuts at the National Cancer Institute have already reduced the number of grants awarded and will definitely threaten future funding. And at the Department of War, there is a 70% proposed budget cut for the whole Ovarian Cancer Research Program.
These cuts would be devastating to the future of research on ovarian cancer. But if we act now, we can still try to prevent them.
For example, the proposal to eliminate from the budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention two programs that provide education and outreach to promote early ovarian cancer detection has good chances of being reversed. Because people spoke up, there is now concrete hope that these programs will continue to be funded. Indeed, should funding for these ovarian cancer education programs be maintained, it will be in large part thanks to the advocacy efforts from patient and professional organizations.
Federally funded research is looking into the root causes of ovarian cancer, into new tests for early diagnosis, into new preventative and treatment strategies. Infuriating as it is that we need to fight to defend funding for programs that will advance the chances of survival for people with ovarian cancer (and other types of cancer), there is no other way to try to save these programs. It is our right, and our duty, to have a say in how public money — our money — is allocated.
I need this research to be funded so that I can have options, should ovarian cancer develop inside my body. But it’s the future generations who will truly benefit from the research we should keep funding. Every step we take now builds toward better prevention, earlier detection, and more effective treatments. It builds toward options for those who come after us.