When Daisie Scharmen of Saline was 26 years old, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after being told repeatedly the symptoms she was experiencing were due to pregnancy. Now, she’s sharing her story to make people aware of the type of cancer known as “The Silent Killer” that goes undetected 85 percent of the time until late stage.
For Scharmen, she was experiencing weight gain, bloating, pain and was constantly exhausted. In fact, many people had started joking with her that she was pregnant because she was newly married. Finally, she went and got a pregnancy test, which came back positive. However, she knew that was not what was going on.
After contacting her OB/GYN in Howell, Mich. and telling of her symptoms, she was told to go to the emergency room because she was having a tubal pregnancy. After becoming increasingly sick and a series of misdiagnosed conditions, she had a test performed during another procedure, which came back showing she had cancer. She had no family history of cancer.
Eventually, her OB/GYN referred her to a gynecological oncologist. By that time, she was progressively becoming worse, 80 pounds heavier and nearly immobile due to the pain.
“I hadn’t ate in weeks, I just couldn’t, because I had such a full feeling,” she said. “I remember the day I went to her office I had one macaroni noodle and was like ‘I’m full.’”
After being admitted to the hospital and having a series of tests run, the oncologist performed surgery to remove the tumors and cancer from her organs. Afterward, she received five rounds of chemotherapy due to having four different types of ovarian cancer.
Eleven years later, Scharmen is 38 years old and the mother of twins, is telling her story and encouraging women to be their own advocate.
“They know their body best,” she said. “When the doctor is trying to tell you that that you don’t know what you are talking about, that’s bologna. I was sick for months and I didn’t need to be as sick as I was because I was told ‘you’re too young’ (to get cancer).”
Scharmen also helps with the Michigan Ovarian Cancer Alliance organization run by Pam Dahlmann of Saline. MIOCA is a partner member of Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.
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