Five Things to do in Less Than Five Minutes
to Take Charge of your Gynecologic Health in 2022!
Every five minutes a woman is diagnosed with one of the five gynecologic (gyn) cancers – cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, or vulvar – totaling more than 109,000 American women each year. Within these same five minutes, here are five things you can do in 2022 to take charge of your gyn health.
- Schedule routine appointments with your healthcare provider/s including an annual check-up and pap smear.
- Be in tune with your body and if you notice anything that seems a little off, don’t keep it to yourself. Reach out to a doctor.
- Learn more about the risk factors associated with gyn cancers such as HPV infection, smoking, weight outside of the normal range and genetics. You can learn more here.
- Prioritize moving your body. Set an alarm every day to remind yourself to get up and move. One-third of all cancer deaths in the U.S. each year are linked to diet and physical activity. To reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancers, it’s important to maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and eat a healthy diet.
- Don’t keep this important information to yourself! Join the Foundation for Women’s Cancer and Society of Gynecologic Oncology to Move the Message and drive awareness of gyn cancers. Share the information available at www.movethemessage.org with other women in your life. One easy way to do this is by sharing on social media. Just post “#MoveTheMessage. 5 Cancers to Know. Take steps today to protect tomorrows by visiting movethemessage.org” and tag five people you know
Someday …
Someday, fewer than 75% of ovarian cancer patients will discover their cancer before it reaches stage 3 or 4.
Someday, those patients will have a lower than 70% rate of recurrence, and higher than 30% rate of survival.
Someday, there will be fewer ovarian cancer patients because women will know they are at risk for ovarian and other cancers before it develops.
Our quest is to make that “someday” today.
From Teal It Up Ovarian Cancer Foundation Founder, Jan Coggins
“First of all, everyone is a survivor — a survivor of something! Life may differ in the specific tools we use in handling adversity. As an ovarian cancer survivor, I thought hiking 100 miles after debulking surgery and 18 hard weeks of harsh chemotherapy was crazy — but it was my way of beating cancer right back. That was what I needed to do after my diagnosis.
“You may get pure joy from holding a grandchild. The point is that everyone will treat adversity differently, and more than likely, that is what will keep you going stronger. Life itself is full of joy and full of challenges. We have to find our way of handling both. At the end of the day, I believe in counting blessings — not blisters (so to speak)!”
CONTACT JAN
Read about Jan’s book:
“Ovarian Cancer? You can NOT be serious!”
This book begins with my story of being here as a survivor.
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Jan Coggins speaks at
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