Advocacy: My Why

Editor's Note: This article was written by Julie Salazar
and originally appeared on our partner site AdvancedOvarianCancer.net.

From a young age, my energy was enormous. My mother threw me into athletics just to tame me. At the same time, both my parents were huge health fanatics. My sisters and I weren’t allowed much sugar or soda (just for parties and celebrations). We also had a mega garden my sister and I tended. Some of my earliest memories are of going out to “pick veggies” for our dinner.

I took my thirst for exercise and good food with me to college and beyond. I was at my ideal weight and in the best shape of my life until I started my business.

On paper, I was in outstanding health

That was when I stopped taking care of my pristine health and started to take care of my clients. I slowly starting gaining weight as I worked a lot more and exercised a lot less. My food choices started to go toward convenience without much planning.

As I look back, my focus was entirely on being “successful” financially and emotionally with finding a romantic partner. What I didn’t see was that my physical health was absolutely vital to offset my risk for GYN cancer.

I was a great patient. I lined up all my doctors and went to all my appointments faithfully for 20 years. I did all the things. Dental care, eye care, GYN care, primary care with bloodwork. I even had a chiropractor! On paper, I was in outstanding health.

I had no need for prescription drugs. I had normal to low blood pressure. Perfect cholesterol. No hint of diabetes. Zero cancer in my family. Never smoked. Never did drugs. Rarely drank alcohol. The only element I struggled with was my weight. In 20 years, I packed on 40 pounds and I hid it well because it’s dispersed over almost 6 feet in height.

My risk factors for ovarian and endometrial cancer

So what happened? How did I get ovarian and endometrial cancer at age 49?

Because for the past 20 years no medical professional paid attention to my GYN risk factors.

At one time when I was 24 years old, a nurse practitioner told me I should start taking birth control to offset my risk for GYN cancer.

I shrugged off her advice because I knew I would never have sex with a man. So why would I need birth control? I’ve known I was gay since I was 19 years old. Plus, birth control had its own set of risks.

Decades later, when I met my oncologist, was the 2nd time in my life I was reminded of my risk factors. That day we met, I was verbally diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

My risk factors for ovarian and endometrial cancers, and the risk factors for many lesbians, are as follows:¹

1. Never being on hormonal birth control.
2. Never attempting pregnancy.
3. Being Caucasian.
4. Being overweight.

My why

How is it possible that with all the GYN practitioners I’ve seen for the past 20 years neglect to remind me of my risk factors?

Because I never brought it up. I never brought up my risk factors because I thought I was immune to cancer. How could I get cancer? I’m healthy. I’m young. Cancer is not in my family. That makes me immune, right?

Wrong.

Cancer got me and now I’m an advocate to teach other women about risk factors outside of genetic testing. I don’t want any women to hear about their GYN cancer risk factors from an oncologist who is going to treat them for ovarian cancer.