A graduate who ignored her own cancer symptoms for months is urging other young women to go and see a doctor if they are worried.<br /><br />Chloe Etheridge, 24, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer seven months after she started feeling ill.<br /><br />She "ignored" symptoms like bloating and difficulty with eating until her stomach pain became too bad, she says.<br /><br />She then went to A&E in April 2022, where they did an ultrasound - which revealed she had two tumours on her ovaries.<br /><br />Chloe, from Whitstable, Kent, had removal surgery earlier this month and is expected to make a full recovery.<br /><br />But she wants to speak out to urge other young women to see a doctor if they are worried - and is challenging "misconceptions".<br /><br />Chloe said: "Book your GP appointment and don't stop going until you get an answer.<br /><br />"If you feel like you don't have an adequate answer - keep going back."<br /><br />Chloe says she first started experiencing what she now knows to be ovarian cancer symptoms in December 2021.<br /><br />These included bloating, eating problems and abdominal pains.<br /><br />But she ignored them for months, only going to see a doctor in April last year when the pain became too severe.<br /><br />Chloe said: "I ignored all of those things - which wasn't the right thing to do.<br /><br />"In April I had really bad stomach pain so I had to go to A&E and I found out I had tumours on my ovaries. One was 18cm long and one was 11cm long.<br /><br />"Between April and July, we knew there was something wrong with me but we didn't know exactly what my diagnosis was which took three months."<br /><br />Chloe received her diagnosis on July 11, 2022 - and was told to pack her bags and go for chemotherapy the next day at Charing Cross Hospital in London.<br /><br />She said: "I was relieved to finally get a diagnosis. The waiting was horrible and knowing all the time it is growing bigger I wanted to get started on the treatment.<br /><br />"I thought it would be a really cinematic moment where you go to the doctor with your mum and cry - but it was nothing like that.<br /><br />"You go into action mode. I had to get on, it was a busy time, and I felt numb thinking, 'Right we need to get on with this'."<br /><br />Chloe was diagnosed with germ-cell ovarian cancer - a disease in which cancer cells form in the germ cells of the ovary.<br /><br />She said: "This cancer mainly affects young women and children.<br /><br />"Since then I have had six months of chemotherapy, which I started the day after my diagnosis.<br /><br />"The doctor said it was one of the most aggressive forms of chemo they could prescribe and it is only available at two hospitals in the UK.<br /><br />"It was incredibly brutal. My chemotherapy had seven different chemical components.<br /><br />"The side effects were horrendous, I had nausea, fatigue, hearing loss - I still can't hear some frequencies now."<br /><br />Chloe had an operation on January 12 of this year to try and remove as much of the two tumours as possible.<br /><br />She said the procedure went "really well", and she is "expected to make a full recovery".<br /><br />Chloe now wants to warn others about her symptoms - so they can get checked out.<br /><br />She said: "I did not realise they were symptoms of cancer. I don't think young women know the symptoms of ovarian cancer.<br /><br />"There are a lot of misconceptions about getting it when you're old or having a family history.<br /><br />"I didn't have any of them. The only thing you need is ovaries.<br /><br />"I think for women because we have periods, it is assumed that we are meant to live with pain but that should not be the case.<br /><br />"If you are feeling uncomfortable, you should go to your doctor and get it checked out."
