Published Sep 4, 2024

Do You Have Mysterious Weight Loss? For Dayton, Ohio Woman, 65, It Was The First Sign of Endometrial Cancer

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Understanding Uterine Cancer

Maja Flannery, of Dayton, Ohio, was diagnosed with grade two, stage 1b uterine cancer after experiencing weight loss and vaginal discharge. She credits friend for urging her to seek medical advice. After surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, she’s hoping her story will inspire others to be their own advocates and pay attention to symptoms.
Uterine cancer, which can also be referred to as endometrial cancer, is a type of cancer that starts in the uterus. Treatments for this disease include surgery to remove the uterus, radiation, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy.
Signs and symptoms of uterine cancer can include: irregular bleeding, pelvic pain, unusual discharge, unexplained weight loss or urinary problems. It’s important to get checked by your doctor for any of these lingering signs.

Maja Flannery, of Dayton, Ohio, was 65 years old and living with a rare lung disease when she began losing weight unintentionally, something she likened to her very active lifestyle, however, she hadn’t been reducing her calorie intake. Soon after, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer, a disease also known as endometrial cancer.

Speaking to Parade in a recent interview, Flannery admitted she also experienced abnormal vaginal discharge prior to her diagnosis—and now she’s hoping her story will inspire others to be informed about the symptoms that could lead to an earlier diagnosis.

Flannery, who was already living amid the Covid-19 pandemic with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a type of lung disease that causes cysts to grow in the lungs, told Parade, “I had a five-to-10-year initial prognosis when I first was diagnosed with the lung disease, and I’m into 22 years.”

She ultimately learned of her endometrial cancer diagnosis after having an endometrial biopsy taken in August 2021. After undergoing surgery in the fall of that year, she was told the disease was “grade two, stage 1b,” and a ” low to intermediate risk.”

“I have the garden variety of endometrial adenocarcinoma,” Flannery, whose doctors also found cancer cells in her bladder during her surgery, explained.

Since her cancer spread her doctors advised her to undergo chemotherapy and radiation.

Recounting her symptoms to Parade, she recalled, “I had started losing weight, and it wasn’t that I was trying. I’m very physically active, and I work five days a week, so I thought, ‘I’m just not getting enough calories’ or whatever.

“And it wasn’t like I was on any kind of a diet, but I did lose something like five to eight pounds over maybe a year. And that should have tipped me off, but you kind of make excuses in your head.”

Since Flannery was already being treated for lung disease UC Health, she ultimately chose to undergo treatment for the disease at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, an affiliate of UC Health.

In addition to her standard cancer treatment, Flannery also noted that she’s been undergoing supportive therapies as well, telling Parade, “Yoga has been the thing that has really helped me.

“They do a lot of lymph movements. [Also,] acupuncture has been the core of making me feel strong enough and able to get me through all these treatments—because of my lungs, the treatments hit me really hard.”

She also has been involved with the United States Tennis Association local league as a coordinator for the area she lives in, noting that tennis is her
“life,” and having a something she loves has helped her through battling disease.

In addition to the symptoms Flannery experience, she’s also aware she is at higher risk of endometrial cancer due to her age. In addition to her age, she thinks she may have had a undiagnosed polycystic ovarian syndrome [PCOS].

“I had a lot of ups and downs with my menstrual cycle—missing, weird, coming, going—it’s just a whole lifetime of craziness,” she added.

However, what ultimately pushed Flannery to get checked after experiencing her symptoms of weight loss and vaginal discharge, was her friend.

“You have to be that friend that nags the other person: ‘Did you get that checked out?’ I had a great friend who did that for me, almost daily, and that finally got me into the doctor,” she concluded.

“And we caught it at a time when it was still early stages. It could have been way worse.”

Understanding Uterine Cancer

Uterine cancer, also called endometrial cancer, develops in the lining of a woman’s uterus. The uterus, or womb, is a pear-shaped organ where a fetus can develop and grow.

More than 90% of uterine cancers occur in the endometrium (the layer of tissue that lines the uterus), making them endometrial cancer. Uterine sarcoma, on the other hand, is very rare and develops in the myometrium, the muscle wall of your uterus.

This year, approximately 67,880 people will be diagnosed with this type of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

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Although this type of cancer chiefly affects postmenopausal women at an average age of 60, it is possible for younger women to be diagnosed with uterine cancer. Still, it’s very rare for women under 45 to get the disease. Also, uterine cancer is more common among Black women than white women.

“Endometrial cancer starts when cells in the endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus) start to grow out of control. Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancer, and can spread to other parts of the body,” the ACS explains. “The uterus is a hollow organ, normally about the size and shape of a medium-sized pear. The uterus is where a fetus grows and develops when a woman is pregnant.”

Dr. Diana English, a Gynecologic Oncologist at Stanford Medicine, said in a previous interview with SurvivorNet that some conditions may predispose a person to develop uterine cancer.

“I think one of the challenges with uterine cancer is that it can also happen in younger patients that have certain conditions that might predispose them to cancer,” Dr English said. “And these patients might not be thinking about this, their primary care providers might not be speaking to them about this.”

Understanding the Risks and Symptoms of Uterine Cancer

Dr. English noted the risk factors for this disease as well. “Some of the common risk factors for uterine cancer include hypertension, diabetes, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. This is a syndrome that’s marked by an ovulation or the absence of regular periods, which tends to happen in premenopausal patients.”

“And some of these patients are obese, some of these patients have signs and symptoms of hyperandrogenism or elevated male sex hormones, and Lynch Syndrome. The one good thing about uterine cancer, if there can be a good thing about any cancer, is that there’s usually an early warning system, which is abnormal bleeding.”

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Signs & Symptoms of Uterine Cancer

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the following are signs and symptoms of uterine cancer:

Vaginal discharge or bleeding that isn’t normal for you
Bleeding may be abnormal because of how heavy it is or when it happens, such as after you’ve gone through menopause and between periods
Pain or pressure in your pelvis

If you experience unusual bleeding, especially if you’ve already gone through menopause, see a doctor right away, the CDC advises. Notify a doctor if have any other signs or symptoms lasting for two weeks or longer.

Types of Uterine Cancer

There are a few kinds of endometrial cancer, also called endometrial carcinoma. Those types include:

Adenocarcinoma, which is the most common type and the type Flannery was diagnosed with
Uterine carcinosarcoma or CS
Squamous cell carcinoma
Small cell carcinoma
Transitional carcinoma
Serous carcinoma

And as for uterine sarcomas, which arise in the uterus muscle wall and make up less than 4% of all uterine cancers, according to the City of Hope Cancer Center, those types include:

Uterine leiomyosarcoma (most common type of uterine sarcoma, accounting for two percent of uterine cancers)
Endometrial stromal sarcomas (accounting for less than one percent of all uterine cancers)
Undifferentiated sarcoma (a rare, more aggressive subtype of uterine sarcomas, which also accounts for less than one percent of uterine cancers)

How Is Uterine Cancer Diagnosed?

The following are ways women can check if they have uterine cancer:

Endometrial Biopsy

With this procedure, a thin and flexible tube is inserted through the cervix and into the uterus and used to gently scrape tissue from the endometrium. A specialist looks at the tissue under a microscope for cancer cells.

Dilatation and Curettage

With this procedure, a tool is used to open the vagina and a small spoon-shaped instrument is inserted into the uterus to gently remove tissue. to remove samples of tissue from the inner lining of the uterus.

Hysteroscopy

With this procedure, a thin tube with a light and camera is inserted through the vagina and cervix and into the uterus to look for abnormal areas. This procedure may also gently remove tissue to look for cancer.

Doctors may also perform a physical exam or pelvic exam, as well as a transvaginal ultrasound, in which an ultrasound probe is inserted into the vagina to examine the examine the vagina, uterus, fallopian tubes, and bladder for tumors.

Stages of Uterine Cancer

Endometrial cancer can be divided into the following stages:

Stage 1: Found in the uterus only.

Stage 2: Has not spread beyond the uterus, but cancer has been found in the connective tissue of the cervix.

Stage 3: Spread beyond the uterus and cervix, such as to the outer layer of the uterus, the fallopian tubes, the ovaries, ligaments or vagina. Stage 3C means the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the pelvis or near the aorta artery.

Stage 4: Spread beyond the pelvis, such as to the bladder, bowel wall, abdomen, or groin lymph nodes.

Treatment for Endometrial Cancer

Treating your uterine cancer can depend on a few factors, including whether the cancer has spread to other areas beyond the endometrium, what the cancer cells look like, and whether the cancer cells are affected by the hormone progesterone.

Low-risk endometrial cancer tend not to spread, and high-risk cancer has a tendency to spread.

Based on the risk and stage of the cancer, standard treatment options include:

Surgery to remove cancer, which may include removing the entire uterus (total hysterectomy)
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
Hormone therapy
Targeted therapy, including immunotherapies

According to City of Hope Cancer Center, “The five-year relative survival rate of all combined stages of endometrial cancer is 81 percent, according to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. However, it varies based on whether the cancer has spread, from 95 percent for localized cancer down to 18 percent if it’s spread to other parts of the body. ”