Ovarian cancer: Shabnam Gujadhur went from doctor to patient ‘in seconds’ when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her thirties

In “a matter of seconds”, Shabnam Gujadhur went from doctor to patient and her life was turned upside down. 

“One day I was working in Emergency, and then the next day I was on the other side of the healthcare system,” she tells 9honey.

“That whole thing changed my life.”

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Gujadhur had just graduated from medical school and was working as a first-year doctor when she noticed some strange symptoms, which included bleeding in between her periods and pain.

She was young, fit and healthy so didn’t think much of it and put off going to the doctor.

It wasn’t until a friend suggested she see a doctor that she finally booked an appointment. 

An initial abnormal ultrasound found what doctors presumed to be a cyst on her ovary, then after a CT scan, which also led doctors to believe it was a cyst, Gujadhur’s doctor recommended she get it removed just to be safe.

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Gujadhur presumed it would be a routine procedure and she would be able to carry on with life as normal, but as she was under the knife, doctors uncovered something much more sinister.

At a follow up appointment, Gujadhur’s doctor sat her down and she instantly knew something wasn’t right.

“I knew it was not good, because I’ve given bad news to patients myself and [she had] that look we all have,” she says. 

The surgery had uncovered a tumour and Gujadhur learned, just weeks after her 30th birthday, that she had ovarian cancer.

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Her heart began pounding and everything in the room went white when she heard those two words.

She was rushed into an urgent staging surgery to remove her ovary tube, and what followed was a very complex process to get a final diagnosis due to the fact very little is known about ovarian cancer.

Overall, it took three months and input from international specialists for Gujadhur to get a final diagnosis of a mixed germ cell tumour of the ovary – a rare type of ovarian cancer that typically affects young women and generally has a good prognosis.

During this process, Gujadhur also learned she had endometriosis – a common comorbidity of ovarian cancer.

Despite years of medical training, Gujadhur says she had a “very limited” understanding about ovarian cancer before her diagnosis.

“What we get taught in med school is very textbook … We learn about the types, we learn about the brief management,” she says.

“There’s not much emphasis on how ovarian cancer statistics are so devastating for patients and family.” 

It wasn’t until she received a diagnosis of her own that she came to understand the reality of ovarian cancer to its full extent. 

The facts are this: Ovarian cancer is the most deadly of all gynaecological cancers and yet there is no early detection test; about 70 per cent of cases aren’t caught until the advanced stages; less than half of all people diagnosed survive more than five years; one woman dies every eight hours; and, while there is promising research in the pipeline, there’s been no significant treatment or diagnostic developments in 30 years.

Learning of these statistics has made Gujadhur “really angry”. 

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“We’ve seen so much improvement in other types of cancers, so much more advancement and it makes me angry and it’s also heartbreaking to see [so little progress],” she says.

“We’re losing too many women to this every year.”

For the majority of ovarian cancer patients, they will receive a diagnosis when their cancer has already reached advanced stages. There are some, however, like Gujadhur, who will be diagnosed earlier in life and at an earlier stage of the disease.

It is not lost on Gujadhur how lucky she has been to discover her cancer in its early stages. It has allowed her more choice in her treatment plan and, while she is undergoing a closely-monitored surveillance program, she thankfully went into remission one year after her diagnosis.

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Gujadhur says she has felt equal parts gratitude and guilt over the fact she is currently in the clear of her cancer. But receiving the diagnosis so early in life has brought with it a whole host of other issues.

At just 30 years old, Gujadhur watched as her friends made big decisions in their lives and careers while hers were put on pause.

For years, she had pursued her career in medicine with fervour, but it all suddenly came to a halt when she was forced to focus on her health. Taking a step back made Gujadhur feel behind and took a toll on her mental health. 

And then, of course, there was the question of kids. Gujadhur says she was eager to start a family of her own one day but her diagnoses made her acutely aware of the fact it may not be possible for her. 

Having lost an ovary to cancer and living with endometriosis, Gujadhur decided to pursue IVF with her husband, but the rounds she has had so far haven’t worked. 

She says she’ll pursue “one more cycle and if that doesn’t work, that’s it for us.” 

While Gujhadhur is so grateful to be in remission, she says the impact her diagnosis has had on her and her future is “everlasting” and the fear of the cancer returning constantly weighs on her mind.

According to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA), approximately 70 per cent of patients will experience an ovarian cancer recurrence.

“All I have to do is cling to hope now,” she says, “but that fear is always lingering. You can’t get rid of it and all you have to do is just be present and be positive about it but it’s hard at times, it’s so hard at times.”

Since switching from doctor to patient, Gujadhur is now back in the doctor’s seat and is two years into training to become an oncologist. It has been through meeting oncology patients that Gujadhur has started to see the “statistics being reflected in front of [her]”.

She says it has been “confronting” to see so many women “being diagnosed so late” with “limited options, limited treatment [and] probably facing terminal illness” especially with the knowledge that there is still so much to be done. 

“Nothing has changed and it’s so heartbreaking, it’s so devastating, not only for patients and their families but for us clinicians as well,” she says. 

To Gujadhur, the answer lies in funding. More funding will allow for more research which will hopefully push towards an early detection test or better treatment options for patients. 

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“It’s really frustrating to think that funding is what we need most,” she says.

“There’s still not an early detection test, there’s still not many treatment options,” she adds. 

“All that can change if we get funding.”

Gujadhur speaks with 9honey ahead of the Mother’s Day Classic 2025 which is taking place this weekend. The event is committed to raising funds for breast cancer and ovarian cancer research in the hopes of improving the survival rate of these insidious cancers. 

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