Ovarian Cancer – Nightwolf's Den

1000 ribbons for Ovarian Cancer

Each year, in Australia, approximately 1000 women will die from Ovarian Cancer. It’s important that you #KnowAskAct

Know – There is no screening test for Ovarian Cancer so it is important to know the symptoms and know your family history. The four most commonly symptoms associated with Ovarian Cancer are

abdominal or pelvic pain
increased abdominal size or persistent abdominal bloating
the need to urinate often or urgently
feeling full after eating a small amount

Ask – Ask family members if there is a family history, on both your mother and father’s sides, of ovarian or breast cancer. “Almost 20 per cent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer carry one or both of the BRCA mutations. Women carrying the BRCA1 gene mutation have up to a 59 per cent increased risk of developing the disease and those carrying the BRCA2 mutation up to an 18 per cent increase. Find out more about the genetic risks of ovarian cancer here.”*

Act – If you find out there is a family history of ovarian cancer talk to your GP about assessing your risk. “It’s important to note that women who test positive for the BRCA gene mutation will not necessarily develop ovarian cancer, but will have an increased risk of developing the disease later in life.”*

Of the 1,480 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Australia every year only 43% will survive five years post-diagnosis. Ovarian Cancer Australia works to raise awareness, provide support, advocate on behalf of women living with the disease, facilitate high-impact research and empower women to #KnowAskAct.

This year marks Mum’s 5 years. As part of our annual fundraising efforts, Mum & I undertook the task of creating a wall of teal ribbons. The goal was to sell teal ribbons for a gold coin donation and people could attach them to our ‘wall’ which was situated at the Hillwood Coffee Shop (if you are in Tassie, and in the Tamar Valley, go check them out. The food is delicious!)

We started the week before our Afternoon Teal event and slowly the ribbons started adding up.

It wasn’t long and we had well over 200 ribbons, then 300, then 500. then 1000! Last count was 1055!!

A huge thank you to all who donated and are now hopefully more aware of Ovarian Cancer and have shared this awareness with others.

* From Ovarian Cancer Australia

Afternoon Teal 2016

This past Saturday we held our annual Afternoon Teal event. This year it was Cheers for 5 Years, an Afternoon Teal at Braehead. Why Cheers for 5 Years? This year marks 5 years since mum’s surgery. In Australia, the overall five year survival rate for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer is 43%. In comparison, the overall five year survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer is 89%. Big difference. So it’s a big celebration year.

We had a lovely afternoon ….

and some seriously yummy food ….

There was a silent auction and I must thank some amazing people for donating – Rabbit Hole Organic Tea, Personal Planner, Little Finch, Flat Out Bottles, Popping Candy Shoes, Your Inspiration at Home, Braehead Crafts, and Hillwood Coffee Shop.

Speaking of the Hillwood Coffee Shop, they have been amazing and are hosting out 1000 ribbon challenge. The aim of the challenge is to sell 1000 ribbons for a gold coin donation and add them to our wall. So far we are just over 400. If you would like to donate and have a ribbon (or 2) added, please get in contact and I’ll send you my paypal. I’ll send you a photo of me adding your ribbon to our wall.

The finally tally is yet to come in but at the end of the day we had gone over my $2000 target. My donation page is still open if you wish to add to the total 😉

Teal Ribbon Day

Today (Feb 24th) is Teal Ribbon Day here in Australia.

Each year we wear a teal ribbon to show our support for women living with ovarian cancer, to remember those we’ve lost and to honour the 1480 women who will be diagnosed this year.

Ovarian cancer has the lowest five-year survival rate of all women’s cancers. All funds raised by Ovarian Cancer Australia (OCA) goes towards research, raising awareness, taking action on behalf of women living with ovarian cancer and to help Ovarian Cancer Australia continue to provide the best support possible to everyone in the community who has been affected by the disease.

Do you know the symptoms of Ovarian Cancer?

Women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer report four types of symptoms most frequently:

Abdominal or pelvic pain.
Increased abdominal size or persistent abdominal bloating.
Needing to urinate often or urgently.
Feeling full after eating a small amount.

If you have any of these symptoms, they are new for you and you have experienced them multiple times during a 4-week period, go to your GP. To help track these symptoms, download OCA’s Symptom diary now.

You can buy your teal ribbons from your local Chemmart Pharmacy Australia, Black Pepper, and Coles Queensland stores.

Even our pollies (for once) are actually talking about it. Karen Mcnamara MP, Federal Member for Dobell addressed Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and ‪#‎TealRibbonDay‬ in Parliament in this video.

AND 1480 windmills have been planted on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra in honour of the women who will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year.

So do your bit and buy a teal ribbon, host an Afternoon Teal, or support one (like mine)

It’s a Frocking good time

It’s official I suck at remembering to Instagram my frocks but here’s what I wore this month. and for the record I cropped my head out of most cause I have a head cold and look shocking :p Anyways, it’s all about the frocks this month! 30 Frocks (I wore one twice) in all and even a little dress up for Halloween! (& a guest appearance by my cats)

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Did you know one woman dies from Ovarian Cancer every 10 hours! You can still donate and help fund more research into Ovarian Cancer here.

Official last day in jeans til November 1st 2015

Yup, it’s that time of year again. Time for me to Frock up for a great cause!

So here’s the obligatory last day of jeans wearing til November 1st selfie

For those who have no idea what Frocktober is all about…..

Held throughout the whole month of October, Frocktober is a fundraising initiative to raise
funds and awareness for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF). The classic
Frocktober challenge asks participants to wear a frock every a day during the month. It’s
all about increasing public awareness of ovarian cancer and raising money to support the
development of an early detection test. Since its inception, Frocktober has raised over $1
million for the OCRF.
One woman dies every ten hours from ovarian cancer. As there is currently no early
detection test and a lack of symptoms in the early stages of disease, women are usually
diagnosed in the late stages of the disease – when the cancer has spread to other organs
in the body. If the cancer is diagnosed and treated early, between 80-100% of patients
will survive for more than five years. But only approximately 30% of women diagnosed at
advanced stages will survive for more than five years.

As I’ve done every year for the last 4 years I’m going to frock it up every day in October. This year I’m aiming to wear a different dress every day.
You can donate here and keep up to date by following me on Instagram

And if you think you’d be stuck wearing a dress a day, check out this post by The mummy & the minx.

Scrap Teal You Drop 2015

For the last couple of years I’ve taken part in the Ovarian Cancer Australia fundraising event – Afternoon Teal. Mum & I have named our event Scrap Teal You Drop and attendees take part in a full day of scrapbooking and card making.

This year we gave our small group two challenges. The first challenge which took up the morning portion of the day was to create two cards in an hour. We gave the ladies a bag which contained two cards (one rectangle and the other was either a teapot or teacup), 2 pieces of ribbon, some twine, 2 blank boxes to add a sentiment to if they wished, some embellishments, 3 pieces of pattern paper and a doily. They could only use what was in their bag plus our range of stamps, inks and paper punches.

I was amazed at the variety of cards that were created. The judging process was not a job I wanted on the day. I recruited my dad and uncles to be our judges for the day and the whole process was anonymous with only myself knowing which creation belonged to which attendant. So I wasn’t allowed to talk to the judges all day 😉

Our winners were the following cards and I’ve placed the rest of the cards up on my Facebook page

The afternoon challenge was a bit harder. The Teal Throw Down challenge the ladies to create a 6×12 page using only the colours we gave them – teal, pink, yellow, purple and a neutral (white or kraft) plus 3 embellishments, a piece of pattern paper ,a piece or ribbon OR twine (not both) and no more than 5 rhinestones or sequins. Honestly I would struggle with this one but the ladies created some amazing pages. A couple worked in pairs while others worked alone. The judges picked this page as our winner:

the other pages can be seen on my Facebook page as well.

Everyone had a great time and we managed to raise $800. Donations are still open so if you would like to donate to this cause, pop on over to my Afternoon Teal page.

A huge thank you to the wonderful businesses who donated prizes for our day. Please go check them out and give them some love!

Bev’s Cross Craft, Kellie Stamps, Simple Scrapper, Max & I, Sweets Caroline and ThermoFun.

A MASSIVE thank you must go to my mum (& dad), who let us use their house, organised a delicious lunch and helped with all the prep and running the day.

Lastly thanks to all who came along. Hope you had a great day. Look forward to seeing you all next year!

Frocktober 2014

is almost upon us again – like tomorrow!

So here’s my first selfie for the month – the last day of jeans until 1st November.

After our rainy, cold weather today here’s hoping the weather improves.

To donate you can go to my Frocktober site. You can donate using your credit card, using PayPal or by using BPAY

The Frocktober challenge

So while everyone is challenging everyone to do the Ice Bucket Challenge (which I have been challenged to do) I’d like to put out another challenge. Donate to my Frocktober page and help raise funds for Ovarian Cancer Research. Oh yeah and then take a photo of you in a dress and share it.
So don those frocks, donate and share this link, I’ll be interested to see who is game to Frock up

I’ll be blogging my Frocking efforts here (along with my frock stories), on Instagram & on my Facebook page.
Let me know if you’ll be frocking up in October so I can follow your journey in the dress 🙂

World Ovarian Cancer Day

Today is World Ovarian Cancer Day! Along with thousands of individuals around the globe, I have pledged to get the word out today about the most serious woman’s cancer to 5 people I care about. You are one of these!

Here is what I want to be sure you know:

The symptoms of ovarian cancer are vague – be aware of new changes – digestive issues, bloating, abdominal pain or urinary frequency that last for 3 weeks or more – and talk to your family doctor to get it checked.
Your family history is important! If you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer on either side of your family, be sure to tell your family doctor about it. You may have a genetic predisposition – your doctor will be able to advise you about genetic testing and risk reduction.
Remember, there is NO early detection or screening test for ovarian cancer. Knowledge is the best defence!

For more information about ovarian cancer, visit www.ovariancancerday.org or Ovarian Cancer Australia

Scrap Teal You Drop 2014

Ovarian Cancer Australia invites groups and individuals around Australia host an Afternoon Teal® – a summer tea party for a great cause! Raising awareness of the symptoms, risks and impact of ovarian cancer, as well as raise vital funds to support their work in awareness, support, advocacy and research .

For the last two years mum & I have organised an Afternoon Teal® event called Scrap Teal You Drop. This year we organised a full day event and spent a couple of months planning and organising, sourcing donations for our raffles and supplies for our scrapbooking challenges.

We received some AMAZING donations from private individuals meaning those who have no scrapping ‘stash’ to raid had an wonderful selection of papers & embellishments to use. Mum bought some gorgeous teal products from Sawyer’s Place to help create our Teal challenge pack but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Saturday night we set up our space, organised tables and packs for our attendees – a teal ribbon and information about Ovarian Cancer plus a symptom diary.

Sunday morning, the day of our event. Our all dayers and the morning crowd arrived and were welcomed and given a run down of our morning schedule. We had a couple of quick quizzes to warm up the brains and just for a little bit of fun. Then the ladies were shown a demo of some gorgeous handmade cards and an idea for using calico and stamping to make some lovely, individual gift ribbon.

We then had our first challenge of the day – a blind scrap. The ladies were given a list of products and after about 10 minutes sat down so I could read them their steps. Some followed along pretty close, others added their own spin and a few did their own thing.

Lunchtime and a wonderful spread provided by mum and a few others. A group photo was taken once the afternoon group arrived and before our morning group had left

Mum shared with us that the day marked 3 years since she had her surgery and was given 18 months to 3 years. In Australia, the overall five year survival rate for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer is approximately 43% so fingers crossed we make it past the 5 years and beyond. This set me off – thanks pregnancy hormones so I had to have a quick teary break before struggling to read the first part of my afternoon speech discussing Ovarian Cancer and the symptoms. So after that slightly teary start to the afternoon our group got stuck into our Teal Challenge. It’s amazing to see how everyone created such a wide variety of pages were created using the same supplies (some seasoned scrappers who joined us added their own supplies) and the majority used the same photo.

Our pack consisted of a white cardstock base, some Sawyer’s Place sticky paper (I love this stuff), flair and washi tape plus some other pattern paper, teal ribbons and a teal ribbon sticker.

We finished of the day with afternoon tea. Lots of yummy goodies including a fruitcake made by mum, a delish mars bar slice and my Teal Ribbon cake, teal ribbon biscuits and teal cupcakes.

I must give a few thanks. To the lovely Ruth from Polly Scrap Kits who, apart from letting me share about Ovarian Cancer on the Polly Scrap site, added some teal products to the February kits (& had a teal add-on kit) AND donated 50c from each kit sold to our fundraising tally. To the local George Town businesses who donated prizes for our minor raffle. To Hawthorn Football Club and Phil Kuruvita who donated prizes for our major raffle which is being drawn at the end of April.

After speaking to Mum today so far our fundraising tally is sitting at $1738! Thank you to all who have donated so far. If you’d like to donate, you still can by going to my GoFundraise page