Lisa Arthurs

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer at just 22, Lisa is now in recovery and keen to move forward with her life.

"For months afterwards it was all anyone ever wanted to talk to me about.

I wanted to talk about going to the UK to study abroad - not cancer. I knew everyone was looking out for me but at the time it was the last thing I wanted..

I'd never had to deal with anything like that before in my life. I didn't want to - I wanted to be Lisa again.

I struggled to know how to tell people. It doesn't just come up in conversation when you're 22 - 'hey, by the way a few months ago I had cancer'.

When I had a follow up appointment in the UK I opened up to one of my friends and asked her to come to my appointments with me.

I wish I could have accepted that kind of help earlier. I think it's important to let people in. It might be scary but in the end you need people around you.

I've had the difficult task of considering if and when I share this part of my life with new friends and partners. But the best thing I have learned from finally letting other people into my life is that everyone just wants the best for me. 

No one is going to judge me. It's long enough in my past that it doesn't change the way people see me.

Now I think that if he has a problem with it then he obviously isn't mature enough to deal with it, and I don't want him in my life.

These days I can go without even thinking about the word cancer at all. I've come to a point in my recovery where I don't want to think about it all the time, and that's okay."

Read more information and advice for younger women diagnosed with ovarian cancer