What happened, in summary

Meredith Ippolito’s ovarian cancer was discovered unexpectedly in 2008. She had sought care for rectal bleeding, and a colonoscopy found flat polyps but no cancer. Doctors decided to perform a colon resection. During that operation, cancer was found, and Meredith underwent debulking surgery with removal of 50 lymph nodes. When she woke from surgery, she learned that she had Stage III ovarian cancer.

Meredith also carried an inherited BRCA1 mutation from her father. She chose to continue treatment at MD Anderson and joined a clinical trial. Her treatment included weekly Taxol and carboplatin as well as Avastin and intraperitoneal chemotherapy. During treatment, she needed fluid drained from her lungs twice, a spleen biopsy and 3 blood transfusions.

She drew motivation from a trip she had taken to Normandy shortly before her diagnosis and from the idea of continuing forward even when frightened. Support from her medical team also became an important part of her treatment experience.

In April 2009, Meredith’s doctors told her she was cancer-free. She then began another round of adjunct chemotherapy and continued returning to MD Anderson every 6 months for follow-up. Even after treatment, cancer remained present in her thoughts, but she focused on continuing to live fully rather than letting fear dominate daily life.