The Story Next Door

By THERESA HOGUE

Gazette-Times reporter

Four times a week, Jan Andrews-McKirdie climbs into the pool at Timberhill Athletic Club to teach water aerobics. At 71, she is trim and glowing and full of energy. She spends most of her days riding her bike around Corvallis, and her ready smile reflects years spent as a first-grade teacher.

But Andrews-McKirdie's smile fades when she talks about the diagnosis that changed her life. In July 1999, intense pain in her lower abdomen became unbearable. She's grateful that a doctor at the Corvallis Clinic immediately ordered an ultrasound, which revealed a grapefruit-sized, cancerous tumor in her uterus that wasn't detected during an earlier physical exam.

Andrews-McKirdie had been having strange symptoms for a while, ranging from bladder issues to pain, but she attributed the pain to an old skiing injury. She figured her bladder was getting weak because of age. What really threw her was her emotional state. She was crying at everything, which was unusual for her.

"I had all these nagging little symptoms," she said, but nothing was big enough to alarm her until the pain became too intense to ignore.

All these symptoms are common in women with ovarian cancer, but they also are symptoms that were easily explained away. Which is why, Andrews-McKirdie said, so many women only discover their ovarian cancer when they're at stage three, like she was. And the late diagnosis is why ovarian cancer has such a high mortality rate.

The tumor was discovered on Monday. Tuesday, Andrews-McKirdie was in surgery. Fortunately doctors were able to remove the tumor, which contained two different types of ovarian cancer - a fast-growing and a slow-growing form.

Six months of chemotherapy followed. A second follow-up surgery uncovered a few more cancerous cells, so she underwent eight weeks of radiation. Another pea-sized tumor was discovered after that, and three more months of chemotherapy were scheduled.

It wasn't easy. All that radiation took its health toll, but by 2002 the cancer was gone, and six years later, it has not returned.

Since her diagnosis, her two adult daughters and her sister all have been tested and undergone examinations to ensure they do not have cancer. They now are more vigilant about annual checkups and paying attention to changes in their health.

As Andrews-McKirdie learned, regular exams are important, but they won't detect certain types of cancer.

"All of the doctors agreed that without the ultrasound, they wouldn't have noticed the tumor," she said.

The support of her family - including her husband and daughters - was crucial during her ordeal with ovarian cancer.

"I don't know how people get through it without a strong support group and a strong caregiver," she said.

Andrews-McKirdie helps organize a local ovarian cancer support group, and frequently speaks to women's groups about the disease.

"Ovarian cancer has been called the silent killer," she said. She feels it's her job to speak out, so other women don't ignore the symptoms until it is too late.

Who: Jan Andrews-McKirdie, 71

What: Water aerobics instructor, ovarian cancer survivor

Hometown: Portland

Currently lives in: Corvallis

Family: Husband, Douglas McKirdie, two daughters, two grandchildren