The Johnson County Board of Supervisors (from left Lisa Green-Douglass, Chairman Rod Sullivan, Royceann Porter, V Fixmer-Oraiz, and Jon Green) have officially designated September 2024 as National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in Johnson County. Receiving the proclamation is Patient Advocate Bridget Toomey who lost her mother from ovarian cancer in 2016, Deb Schnoor, ARNP, and Courtney Shaw, ARNP.

Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women in Iowa and is the deadliest of the gynecologic cancers, with a five-year survival rate of just 46 percent. Because of the location of the ovaries in the body, most ovarian cancers are not diagnosed until the late stages of the disease. Additionally, there is no screening test for ovarian cancer, as a pap smear does not detect ovarian cancer.

The American Cancer Society estimates 19,680 cases of ovarian cancer will be newly diagnosed in 2024 and 12,740 individuals will die from the disease nationwide, including 190 new cases and 130 deaths in Iowa. The designation of September as Ovarian Cancer Month will help raise awareness of the disease.