Facts about Ovarian Cancer

**Ovarian cancer is a serious and under-recognized threat to women's health.
**Ovarian cancer, the deadliest of the gynecologic cancers, is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women.
**Ovarian cancer occurs in 1 out of 57 women.
**It is expected that 20,180 women will be diagnosed in 2009.
**An estimated 15,310 American women will die from ovarian cancer in 2009.
**Currently, 50% of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer die from it within five years; among African American women only 48 percent survive five years or more.
**Ovarian cancer is very treatable when it is detected early, but the vast majority of cases are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries.
**In cases where ovarian cancer is detected before it has spread beyond the ovaries, more than 90% of women will survive longer than five years.
**Only 25% of ovarian cancer cases in the U.S. are diagnosed in the early stages.
**When diagnosed in advanced stages, the chance of five-year survival is only about 25%.
**Raising public awareness of ovarian cancer by educating doctors and women about the disease could save lives.
**More ovarian cancer research is needed- to develop early detection tools, better therapies, cures, and to prevent the disease.
**Much more needs to be learned about what causes ovarian cancer and how to prevent it.
**90% of women diagnosed do not have a family history that puts them at higher risk.
**Ovarian cancer research is DRASTICALLY UNDER-FUNDED. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) spent close to $70 million in 2001 on ovarian cancer research, $407.5 million on breast cancer research, $150.3 million on lung cancer research, and $136.5 million on prostate cancer.

Turning this whisper into a SHOUT!!!