To Your Health
June, 2011 (Vol. 05, Issue 06) |
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"My mother and I had the conversation and wondered, what's on the other side of this?" said Sommermann. "I am an optimist at my core. I didn't know what was on the other side, but I didn't feel like I was going to die. I knew there was a reason or a message that would come out of this."
The message ended up revealing itself in a triathlon magazine spread Sommermann read on her hospital bed while she recovered from cancer surgery. The teal-colored spread (teal is the official color of ovarian cancer awareness) highlighted efforts by three states to use triathlons to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, the largest private funding agency for ovarian cancer research today.
"I am a dangling carrot type of gal, so I thought, 'Wow, that's cool; that's what I want to do when I am well,'" Sommermann recalled.
Spreading the Word
Today, Sommermann is fulfilling that goal. Cancer-free and healthy, she is now helping other women become aware of the reality of ovarian cancer by competing in triathlons. But it's not just a few triathlons she's competing in – it's 50, to be exact. Her goal is to complete 50 triathlons in 50 states by her 50th birthday and raise $100,000 for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) in the process.
"No one has to die from this if it's detected early. I have an opportunity, I am able to help and I almost feel an obligation," said Sommermann. "I was spared; there is a reason I was spared. I want to use that for the greater good."
Ovarian cancer is the number-one cause of death due to gynecologic cancers in the United States and the number-five cause of cancer death among women in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. Recent research by the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund also emphasizes that only 20 percent of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region. When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92 percent. However, most patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, and less than 50 percent of women survive longer than five years after diagnosis.
Sommermann calls these statistics "miserable" and "horrendous," and wants to be a key person in helping to change them. At all of the triathlons she participates in, she can be seen talking to both men and women, wearing her OCRF logo-plastered gear and standing beside her teal-colored bike.
"I want to stand out; I want people to say, 'Hey what's with you? Who are you?'" she said. "I am always happy to talk about it."
Sommermann said her pride in being a "mouthpiece" for ovarian cancer comes from knowing she is filling a void of information for a lot of people.
"People want to hear this information," she said. "Even in small and rural places, I am finding that women are hungry for this information. I tell all the women I meet to go home and call five more women they know and tell them about ovarian cancer. We have the opportunity to make an impact in all of these little communities."
Sommermann said she is not only talking to people about looking out for symptoms; she is also letting them know there is a need for a formal screening test, which currently does not exist. Today, the only screening tests doctors are able to use are blood markers for women who are considered "high-risk," primarily because of cancer running in their families. The test, called a blood CA-125 measurement, is used every two years for those high-risk women. There are also transvaginal ultrasounds available upon request.
