A bride-to-be who took up yoga and Pilates to relieve her bad back was horrified to learn the agonising pain was caused by ovarian cancer. Alex Macgillivray took up the flexible disciplines in January after initially suffering with what she thought were simply tight hips causing lower back and hip pain.
But the new yogi realised something was amiss when the pain continued and she started to become bloated and constipated in June. The 26-year-old booked a GP appointment to get it checked out as she hadn't made any changes to her eating habits that could explain it, including enjoying Sunday dinners at the pub.
Initially thinking the engineering manager was suffering from appendicitis, Alex's doctors referred her to hospital where she underwent a barrage of tests that revealed she had ovarian cancer. Now Alex is undergoing a course of chemotherapy and is urging anyone with unusual symptoms to get them checked out straight away.
Alex, from Wrexham, Wales, said: "I've always known my hips are tight so I get lower back pain. I started doing yoga and pilates as it got worse in January, I was just trying anything to alleviate the back and hip pain I had. It was an ache in my lower back, then I'd randomly get a stabbing pain in my lower groin on the right side. I initially just ignored it, I didn't think much of it.
"When I got to June I started to experience severe bloating, which is really odd for me. My stomach was distended, I looked and felt pregnant. Everyone was saying to me 'oh I get bloating, it could be IBS' but I said 'no it's really weird'.
"I was also constipated, which I never am. I hadn't changed anything I usually eat, including Sunday dinners at the pub, so by day two of being constipated I went to the doctors. I told them my symptoms, they felt my stomach and they thought I had appendicitis so I was sent straight to hospital."
At Wrexham Maelor Hospital in Wrexham, Wales, Alex underwent a series of tests including CT scans, ultrasounds, and blood work that uncovered two giant ovarian germ cell tumours. Alex did a sponsored head shave for The Robin Cancer Trust in August, donating 14 inches of her blonde locks to Little Princess Trust, before starting treatment.
Three months on from her shock diagnosis, Alex is having chemo to blast the tumours, measuring 12cm x 13cm and 7cm x 8cm, in the hope she can keep her ovaries and fertility. Alex, who's engaged to 27-year-old recruiter James Ingleby-Jones, said: "It's been a bit of a roller coaster, from the joy of getting engaged to the heartbreak of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
"Fair play to them, [the hospital staff] they did all the scans and found it, they didn't just send me home with laxatives. James proposed after my exploratory surgery, he had it all planned out before I got ill, I had no idea it was coming. It's been something to really look forward to and a light at the end of a tunnel. The hope is the chemo will blast it out without the need for an operation.
"The type of cancer I have is extremely rare in females, it's more typical in males with testicular cancer. If you're going to have it you usually have it before you're 30."
Still undergoing treatment, Alex is now urging anyone experiencing unusual symptoms to get them checked out straight away. Alex said: "Bloating and a change in toilet habits could just be linked to monthly cycles, but I'd said to anyone to get anything unusual to them checked out. I've been lucky, I've got the 'best' ovarian cancer you can have as it's usually silent and people don't get diagnosed until later on. But I would push as soon as you experience any uncommon symptoms to get them checked out."
WHAT ARE GERM CELL OVARIAN TUMOURS?
According to Cancer Research UK, Germ cell ovarian tumours begin in the ovarian cells that develop into eggs (germ cells). They are rare and usually affect girls and young women up to their early 30s. Symptoms might include: pain in your tummy (abdomen) or lower part of your abdomen that doesn't go away, bloating or an increase in the size of your abdomen and irregular periods. Treatment usually works well and most women are cured.
