Celebration after Loss
- Actor Pierce Brosnan, 67, lost both his first wife and eldest daughter to ovarian cancer.
- Early symptoms of ovarian cancer include pain in the pelvis, changes in bowel habits, feeling bloated and pain during sex.
- After coping with the loss of a partner or child to cancer, it’s still possible to find joy in life.
Related: PHOTOS: Celebrity Cancer Survivors
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Brosnan’s Ovarian Cancer Losses
Brosnan has spoken openly and admirably about his grief. Brosnan's first wife, Cassandra, passed from ovarian cancer in 1991. Years later, in 2013, Pierce and Cassandra's daughter, Charlotte, died of the same disease. Cassandra was 43 when she passed, and her daughter was even younger Charlotte passed at the too-young age of 41.
Ovarian cancer has been called “the cancer that whispers,” due to its hard-to-detect symptoms. Dr. Beth Karlan, a Gynecologic Oncologist at UCLA Medical Center, says in an earlier interview, "What we've found from multiple studies, it's this constellation of symptoms," she said. “If that's really happening and you're experiencing it every day, and they seem to be crescendoing, getting worse, even if that goes on for only two weeks, you should call your doctor."
Ovarian cancer symptoms can include:
- Feeling full earlier/decrease in appetite
- Feeling bloated
- Changes in bowel habits
- Pain in the pelvis
- Urinary symptoms, such as an urgent need to go
- Extreme fatigue
- Abdominal swelling
- Pain during sex
Finding Joy After Grief
Even in the face of terrible grief that comes with losing a partner and child, Brosnan re-married and grew his family again. Finding joy after hardship can be difficult, but it is possible. And keeping a positive attitude through cancer has been proven to help, too.
Related: A Major Step in the Cancer Journey: Learning to Deal With Vulnerability
“My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they’re diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK,” says Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon. “Now doesn’t that mean I’m good at saying that the cancer won’t grow,” he says. “But I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”
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