Palm Beach Daily News, January 2011

By: William Kelly

It took Fran Drescher two years and eight doctors to find out she had uterine cancer.

One doctor had suggested gin and tonic for what that physician thought was restless leg syndrome. Another told the actress to cut back on spinach, Drescher told an audience of more than 200 people Monday at a luncheon in Palm Beach.

Drescher’s case was unusual in that most women who have uterine cancer are either obese or post-menopausal. She was neither.

It finally boiled down to a simple biopsy, the results of which were revealed to her on a day that was otherwise just like any other.

The good news was that the disease had only progressed to stage one. Drescher underwent a radical hysterectomy.

“For one who has never had a child, like myself, it was a particularly bitter pill to swallow,” Drescher said. “I was angry. I didn’t know how to get out of this situation I was in, which felt very permanent.”

Drescher is well known for her role as Fran Fine on the TV series The Nanny, which aired 1993 to 1999.

Today, she is a 10-year cancer survivor, author and an activist for women’s health issues. Drescher was one of two guest speakers Monday at the HOW (Hearing the Ovarian Cancer Whisper) Time is of the Essence Luncheon at The Flagler Museum Pavilion.

Ovarian cancer expert Dr. Andrew Berchuck also spoke.

Drescher recalled how, at her lowest point, she gazed into a mirror at her body, swollen and black and blue, with a red incision line. A self-described superwoman who had always cared for others, she found herself being cared for by her cousin, Susan, and by Drescher’s parents, Sylvia and Morty Drescher, who were in the audience Monday.

Turning things around

Things began to turn around for Drescher during a dinner when Susan choked on a piece of chicken. Drescher leaped from her seat and performed the Heimlich maneuver.

“The poultry pops out, so we all gather around to look at it,” Drescher recalled for the audience’s amusement. “My cousin Susan says, ‘You saved my life.’ But, in a funny way, my cousin Susan saved my life because in that moment I began to feel like my old self again.”

Cancer Schmancer

Drescher regained control, and wrote the best-selling book Cancer Schmancer. During that process, she moved through the anger she harbored for her doctors, and widened her perspective.

“I blame myself as well,” she said. “We have to take responsibility for our own bodies.”

Drescher has made the fight against cancer central to her, becoming president and visionary of the Cancer Schmancer Movement.

She acknowledges being fortunate in that her relatively slow-growing cancer was found early.

Early detection

“Early detection is the key,” she said. “Too many people are finding out today what they should have found out yesterday.”

That is especially true with ovarian cancer, one of the most aggressive and deadliest types. More than 80 percent of those who have it don’t find out until it is at an advanced stage, and about two-thirds of them do not survive, she said.

Misdiagnosis of the disease occurs

Doctors sometimes misdiagnose the disease as irritable bowel syndrome because the symptoms are similar to ovarian cancer in its early stages, Drescher said.

“We have to become more proactive,” she said. “Recognize the early morning whispers. Become better partners with your doctors.”

Drescher looks forward to the day when no one will be diagnosed with any cancer that has moved beyond stage one.

Until then, she said, we have to live in a preventive mode, educating ourselves about the link between environmental factors and cancer.

Despite all of our plans, no one knows what’s going to happen five minutes from now, Drescher said.

“Be very present in your life,” she said. “Every little moment — experience it fully, joyfully and with grace.”

About 20,000 new cases a year

There is no screening method for early detection for ovarian cancer. The symptoms tend to be vague, but include a swollen or bloated abdomen, persistent abdominal pain or pressure, and difficulty eating or feeling full quickly.

There are about 20,000 new cases of ovarian cancer each year in the United States, said Berchuck, who is director of the Duke Division of Gynecologic Oncology. That works out to about 13 per 100,000, which he said does not make the disease particularly common or rare.

Ovulation is a main cause of the disease, he said. Women who use birth control pills for as few as three years have less of a chance of getting ovarian cancer, he said. Women are living longer with ovarian cancer, he added.

HOW was founded by the late Jacquie Liggett and is a nonprofit organization that raises money for research, educational programs and offers financial assistance through its Angel Fund to women in need.