When you are close to a cause, volunteering is not always easy.

“I tried to volunteer when I was younger, and it was just too upsetting,” says North Vancouver’s Leanne Stevens, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 19, and whose mother passed away from breast cancer when she was 13. “I was volunteering with the cancer clinic and I only lasted a few months.”

Today, Stevens, now in her fourties, has pledged to try again, taking her first step with Ovarian Cancer Canada, a national charitable organization that provides support for women battling the disease.

“I just thought it was time to give something back. It started slow. I am putting up posters and canvassing,” says Stevens, who will also be participating in next weekend’s ninth annual Winners Walk of Hope, a fundraising event for Ovarian Cancer Canada.

Last year, the 2.5 kilometre walk drew over 11,000 participants from across the country (700 from Vancouver alone) and raised more than $2.3 million.

Stevens believes more people need to be aware of ovarian cancer, which women have a one in 70 lifetime risk of developing. For her, next Sunday’s walk represents a way to help put the disease “on the map.”

“Ovarian cancer is the deadliest of the genealogical cancers. There is no test for ovarian cancer. Many women think ovarian cancer is detected through the Pap test – there is no test. And that is why they call it the silent killer,” says Karen Reid Sidhu, Ovarian Cancer Canada’s Western regional fund development manager. “The statistics are staggering.”

According to Sidhu, in 2009, 291 women were newly diagnosed with ovarian cancer in British Columbia. In the same year, 250 women died from the disease.

Looking back, Stevens says she was lucky in her battle with cancer, but knows things could have been different.

“I had a cyst on my ovary the size of a six-month-old baby’s head. It was pressing on my nerves and my legs were giving out,” she remembers.

It was only during surgery to remove the cyst, which turned out to be benign, that doctors detected another small, malignant cyst on Stevens’s other ovary.

At that point, she says was given a couple of options. “I took the path of chemotherapy and a couple of operations to double check that it had worked.”

Today Stevens has been cancer-free for over twenty years. She walks away from the experience with a warning for other women: listen to your body. It’s a lesson that Stevens learned from her initial inaction as a teenager.

“I was very athletic and I knew something was wrong, I knew I wasn’t pregnant, but being 19, I thought it was probably something to do with my period. It went on for four months and I just ignored it.”

The symptoms of ovarian cancer vary, and, as Stevens’s case illustrates, detection isn’t easy. Typical symptoms include: abdominal discomfort, bloating, frequent urination, nausea or indigestion, changes in the bowel habits, pelvic discomfort and heaviness, weight loss or weight gain, chronic fatigue, and back pains, among others.

“You can’t find it just by having an exam and it masks menopause, which is a big thing because I think that is the age that ovarian cancer starts showing up, so women may think that that is just how they are suppose to feel,” says Stevens.

According to Reid Sidhu, “many doctors are unfamiliar with the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer and fail to consider it as a possible diagnosis.”

If caught early, the chances of survival are very high; but early detection remains difficult.

This year, the Winners Walk of Hope, which is held in 15 cities across the country, aims to raise $2.5 million for continued research, and awareness campaigns.

“The walk’s name is about hope – hope that one day we will have a test and one day daughters, mothers, sisters won’t have to hear the news that they have been diagnosed,” says Reid Sidhu.

The Vancouver walk is taking place between 10 and 11 a.m. on Sunday, September 12 at VanDusen Botanical Garden, and is expected to draw close to 850 participants. For more information, or to register for the walk, visit: www.ovariancanada.org.

kblackadar@nsnews.com