Postie Lynn supports awareness Ovarian Cancer campaign

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Postie Lynn supports awareness campaign

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A BURTON woman who battled ovarian cancer is fronting a new campaign as part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

Postwoman Lynn Hill, 50, is helping to raise the profile of ovarian cancer by wearing striking teal nail polish.

Lynn is one of the faces of the ovarian cancer charity Ovacome’s ‘Teal Tips’ campaign, running throughout March and aimed at raising the profile of the fifth most common cancer among women in the UK.

She shared her story with the Mail last month, when she said she was ‘living with a death sentence’.

The mum of one was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in April 2012 and, despite being given the all-clear in December 2013, she has been told the cancer is guaranteed to return

The idea of the campaign is that by wearing teal nail varnish women will remark on the colour, giving the wearer the opportunity to talk about the symptoms of the disease.

She said: “I’d never heard of ovarian cancer and I struggled with the idea that I could be so ill, as up until three days before being diagnosed I was a full-time postie. I was fit and healthy with a few minor gynaecological problems, I thought.”

Ovarian cancer is sometimes confused with less serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, the menopause or general fatigue.

Lynn was told her symptoms – bowel and bladder problems and tiredness –were probably down to irritable bowel syndrome, having a weak pelvic floor after giving birth to a large baby and having a physically demanding job.

She had surgery and chemotherapy and is now being treated with a drug to stave off the cancer. She suspects that had she been older, the medics may have picked up on the signs earlier.

Ovarian cancer is a disease which mainly affects women over the age of 50, but Lynn wanted to get behind the Teal Tips campaign to reach out to women of all ages.

She said: “Any woman with an ovary or two can get ovarian cancer.”

She is urging women to support the campaign by wearing teal nail varnish.