Asli Akyurek:"We had an unspoken connection"

Asli lost her identical twin sister to ovarian cancer at the age of 38

"Ahu was my identical twin sister (she's on the right and I'm on the left).

Having an identical twin is very different to having a sister.

I literally lost my other half.

She had a cyst on her left ovary which was being monitored by several gynaecologists for more than five years.

They prescribed her birth control pills and hormone treatments but she refused to take them.

Some said her cyst needed to be removed and others said it could stay.

No-one sent her for a CA125 test even though she was tired, bloated and finding it difficult to eat - all the things associated with ovarian cancer.

She was taken to hospital with a severe abdominal pain and after an ultrasound they realised the cyst had ruptured, so she had an urgent oophorectomy.

The next day she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And ten days later she underwent a radical hysterectomy. She was only 36.

She was a strong, inspiring and talented woman and a very good English language teacher. 

She loved nature and the arts, she painted, wrote poetry and made things with her hands.

Two years later she had had enough of chemotherapy and decided to stop. She felt like the drugs weren’t working anymore.

We had an unspoken connection. I did and still do talk to her in my mind.

I can’t use the word ‘died’ but only gone. It’s as if she will be back sometime.

Now I’m concentrating on raising awareness of the disease.

I miss her."

Donate now to our life-saving research at our own Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre.