A mother-of-two has disclosed how a little stomach lump that doctors initially rejected as “probably nothing but a muscle tear” turned out to be stage four ovarian cancer.
Vanja Wilson, 38, discovered what felt like a little marble beneath the skin of her abdomen while juggling a demanding job as a general manager at a software business with her family.
Vanja told the Daily Mail, “It was about five centimeters under my belly button.”
The Sydney mother was worried and went to two different physicians in August and October of 2023 to find out what might be wrong. “They said it was nothing, probably scar tissue from having two C-sections,” she said.
“They just said nothing to worry about, but if I really wanted to, I could pay $700 to have an MRI, which would obviously be quite expensive for something that no one seemed to be worried about, so I left it for a good six to seven months,” the doctor said after referring her for an external ultrasound, which revealed “no concerning results” and suggested it appeared to be a muscle tear.
Vanja claimed that even though the bulge persisted, she ignored any residual worries.
Vanja Wilson, a mother from Sydney, has disclosed how her small stomach lump—which doctors initially disregarded as “probably nothing but a muscle tear”—turned out to be stage four ovarian cancer.
After Vanja’s father passed away from lung cancer several years prior, her eldest daughter already connected the word “cancer” with grief. “I always kind of thought, well, is it just me, or is this growing a little bit,” she said. But since nobody else was concerned, I wasn’t.
“I was feeling very energetic, and didn’t feel tired in any way, didn’t have any other obvious symptoms,” she said. “I was bloated quite often, and experiencing a bit of discomfort in that sense, but I just put it down to being lactose intolerant, or something of that nature.” Looking back, she can see there were other warning signs, but at the time they felt easy to explain away.”
“My mum has a history of bowel disease,” she added, but she didn’t realize something was terribly wrong until months later when she saw blood in her stool.
“It happened twice, and the second time it was clear that something wasn’t quite right.”
Vanja went back to her doctor and demanded a colonoscopy. In a few of weeks, medical professionals found a tumor that nearly completely blocked her colon.
Vanja Wilson, 38, discovered what felt like a tiny marble beneath the skin of her abdomen while juggling a demanding job as a general manager at a tech company. “The doctor told me it was either bowel cancer or ovarian cancer – but we had to wait for results from the biopsy to confirm.”
On May 10, 2024, right before Mother’s Day, I received the heartbreaking news. “I had to call my husband and ask him to pick me up, and they discovered that I had three tumors.” One had begun in the ovary, moved through the colon, and ended up in the front abdominal muscle.
Surgeons worked fast since the colon was nearly completely blocked. “I was only allowed to eat soup after that, because they were worried about a blockage.”
Vanja had a difficult five-hour surgery at Royal North Shore Hospital on June 4, 2024.
A radical hysterectomy, intestinal resection, and tumor removal from the abdomen and diaphragm were all part of the procedure.
Her external ultrasound, which the doctors recommended, revealed “no concerning results,” indicating that it appeared to be a tear in her muscle.
Surgeons deemed the procedure effective despite its size since it eliminated all obvious signs of malignancy.
Surgeons deemed the procedure effective despite its size since it eliminated all obvious signs of malignancy.
Nevertheless, because the disease had progressed outside of the abdominal cavity, pathology results verified that it had reached stage four.
Vanja started 16 rounds of weekly chemotherapy just three weeks after surgery. “There was no time to really recover,” she added.
“It was immediately followed by the next course of treatment.”
“The main symptoms for me were the nerve damage that can happen,” she said. She was determined to keep going and continued to be active during the early phases of treatment, but gradually the physical toll became overpowering.
She had excruciating tingling and itching beneath her skin due to acute neuropathy.
Vanja started 16 weeks of weekly chemotherapy just three weeks after surgery. “I had to sit in ice baths just to numb my hands and feet daily, probably every two hours, just to get by,” she said. “I couldn’t go for walks, I couldn’t drink a hot cup of coffee, and I couldn’t even shower towards the end without triggering it.”
The loss of taste, steroid-induced swelling, and excruciating exhaustion accompanied the nerve damage. “With every dose, you just kind of took a bigger hit in the body,” she said.
She worked hard to maintain her look, especially for her little girls, who were just four and seven years old at the time.
Vanja decided to try to maintain her hair while undergoing chemotherapy by using cold-cap therapy.
She remarked, “You still have to sit there with the cap, which basically gives you brain freeze, but being able to maintain a portion of my identity through doing that helped significantly.”
In addition to the nerve damage, she had excruciating exhaustion, steroid-induced edema, and taste loss.
The mother, her spouse, and their two daughters
One of the most difficult aspects of the experience, according to her, was telling her daughters about the sickness.
The family, who were originally from Sweden and England, mainly relied on friends for support during their treatment because they had no relatives in Australia.
Vanja’s father passed away from lung cancer a few years prior, so her oldest daughter already connected the word “cancer” with grief.
Her mother also overcame breast cancer at the same time.
“To hopefully ease some of her anxiety, we could tell her that there are various kinds.”
After completing chemotherapy in October 2024, Vanja started taking Niraparib in January 2025 to help lower her chance of recurrence.
The drug is not publicly sponsored for her because she lacks the genetic mutations usually needed for government subsidies.
To pay for it, the family took money out of their superannuation.
Because signs like bloating, discomfort in the abdomen, feeling full quickly, and changes in bowel habits might mirror typical digestive or hormonal problems, ovarian cancer is sometimes referred to as a “silent” disease. “I am paying for it out of my own pocket, which is $6,000 a month,” she said.
She claims her body has since adapted to the medication, despite the fact that it first caused serious side effects, including the need for a blood transfusion.
“I’ve managed to maintain my remission, and I am as symptom-free as I’ve probably been since my diagnosis,” she stated. I don’t have any signs of illness.
“At stage four, the chances of recurrence are as high as 90%,” but the worry of recurrence persists.
Vanja sought out psychological help from Ovarian Cancer Australia and the Cancer Council NSW during the struggle, but ultimately found the most solace in campaigning and fundraising.
Friends encouraged Sarah to take part in Frocktober, an Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation fundraising event, as her chemotherapy journey came to a close.
“We raised $25,000 in that one,” she remarked. “I was furious by the statistics that I had obviously been confronted with, and the lack of government funding for this type of cancer.”
“I often say this when I do my advocacy for ovarian cancer, that while the symptoms are extremely vague, I do think that if I had a bit more awareness, I would have taken my symptoms more seriously,” she said. “I would have advocated for myself a bit more when I was in those GP rooms being told that it was nothing.” She is now a frequent public speaker on ovarian cancer awareness and research funding.
Because symptoms including bloating, discomfort in the abdomen, feeling full quickly, and changes in bowel habits can mirror typical digestive or hormonal problems, ovarian cancer is frequently referred to be a “silent” disease.
According to Vanja, “the only real way of change is through research, both from an early detection and an actual treatment standpoint.” As of right now, there is no trustworthy early detection test.
Australians can visit the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation to discover more about symptoms and support services, as well as to support research on ovarian cancer.
