The Importance of Spotting Endometrial Cancer

Alex Biese: Hello and welcome to the cancer horizons. Podcast in each episode we hear from patients, survivors, caregivers, advocates, or healthcare professionals to do what cure does best – provide cancer updates, research and education.

Alex Biese: Too often women with endometrial cancer have reported that their symptoms were stigmatized and dismissed, even though diagnoses and deaths from this type of uterine cancer are on the rise. Endometrial cancer remains under recognized.

Alex Biese: Today, we're speaking with Angélica, an endometrial cancer survivor who will share her personal experience with endometrial cancer, and how the Spot Her® initiative helped empower her to take action.

Alex Biese: Teresa Cronin, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Patient Advocacy, Eisai Inc., also joins us today to share how the initiative has helped to educate women in endometrial cancer communities around the United States.

Teresa Cronin: Thank you. I'm very excited to be here today. Let me begin by sharing a little bit about Eisai. At Eisai. As employees. We are guided by our human health care mission. The idea that patients and their families come first, and we have a responsibility to listen to and learn from them.

Teresa Cronin: With that in mind we take our responsibility to share their stories and educate people about different types of cancer very seriously.

Teresa Cronin: One of the ways we do that is, through educational campaigns like Spot Her®.

Teresa Cronin: Spot Her® is an initiative to help end the silence around endometrial cancer and empower all people across generations and cultures to speak up, take action and spot the potential signs at an early stage when endometrial cancer may be more treatable.

Teresa Cronin: Eisai launched Spot Her® in 2021 and since then we have shared the stories of multiple women who were diagnosed with endometrial cancer to help amplify their experiences and educate others who may be at risk.

Teresa Cronin: I'm pleased to have with me Angélica, an endometrial cancer survivor who has been kind enough to share her story with the Spot Her® campaign and now with us today.

Angélica: Thank you for having me today. My name is Angélica.

Angélica: I am 56 years young and I live in Brooklyn, New York, but I was born in Panama.

Angélica: I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in December of 2022, right before Christmas. And I got that call and those 3 words, you have cancer from my doctor.

Angélica: She stayed on the phone with me to answer all my questions and help me understand my diagnosis.

Angélica: I was shocked, and it was surreal for me.

Angélica: You know, for some of the things I thought was, am I going to die?

Angélica: What am I going to do with my parents, my family?

Angélica: I carry my family, and so it became less about me and more about the people around me.

Angélica: But my doctor brought me back to. I mean reality.

Angélica: This is you, right?

Angélica: And reminded me, we can't focus on everyone else right now.

Angélica: Let’s put a pin on that and focus on you.

Teresa Cronin: That is a call no one ever wants to receive, but many have, and it must have been so scary.

Teresa Cronin: Before your diagnosis, did you notice any symptoms or signs of this disease.

Angélica: Yes, as I kind of recall in my journey.

Angélica: I had a few symptoms. First thing I noticed some spotting, not every day, but a few times.

Angélica: It didn't happen on a continuous basis, but something I noted that was slightly off.

Angélica: Another thing which was actually pretty dramatic for me was, I started to lose weight, and my clothes were not fitting the same.

Angélica: And I also felt kind of a little embarrassed, because when people asked me like, What are you trying to lose weight? What's going on? And I was just like, no, but I really didn't know why this was happening so, but I realized at that point that for me this is between the spotting and the weight loss that I needed to contact my doctor, first my primary care physician and my gynecologist, and I did that in August of 2022

Angélica: Unfortunately, at that time that there wasn't anything available appointment available until November. Very frustrated and you know I was persistent. I called about every day for a month, or almost every other day, and to get an appointment, but you know there was no openings, and so in November.

Angélica: shortly after Thanksgiving, I was able to see my gynecologist.

Teresa Cronin: I'm glad to hear you were persistent, but sorry to hear you had to wait a while to see your doctors.

Teresa Cronin: We know that early detection is so important and vital to ensure women receive the best care.

Teresa Cronin: During your diagnosis, did you feel empowered to advocate for yourself?

Angélica: Well, first all, let me just step back, and I'll just say, you know, before I answer that yes, absolutely. I felt empowered. And I realized, I mean that only 53% of black women with endometrial cancer received an early stage diagnosis.

Angélica: When black women are diagnosed, the disease is often caught in the later stages when it is harder to treat.

Angélica: And so you know, one of the things you know, you ask yourself is like, Why is this happening?

Angélica: Are we being heard by healthcare professionals? I think that I am so blessed and fortunate because I have known my gynecologist for over 20 years, and from day one, I've made it clear to her that you know, when I come see her once or twice a year, that you know I have my, I'm prepared. I have my list of what's happening, you know, kind of review what my symptoms are, and so you know what's affecting me. So you know this is how this is me. This is just how I am. So I'm a person that I'm very direct, and I want to talk. I want to have my questions answered, and I don't want to feel rushed when I go to the doctor. So in the instant case, when I went to see you know in November. I mean, I had my list. And this is happening. And I just wanted really to get to the bottom of things and to know why were these things happening, the weight loss, the spotting.

Angélica: So I'm a yeah very forward person and have expectations and expect that, you know. If I you know, have questions or answers, or we try to figure out what's going on. And so, that's what happened in my case. So yeah, I felt empowered to do that.

Teresa Cronin: Knowing that you can have an open dialogue with your doctor is so important, and I agree that the healthcare system can do a better job at addressing the needs of disadvantaged communities.

Teresa Cronin: That's why, at Eisai, we worked with our patient advocacy partners to create the Spot Her® campaign. It is designed to be a resource for women to seek educational information about the disease, to have more informed discussions with their doctors.

Teresa Cronin: During your journey, what would you say was the most difficult aspects about endometrial cancer that you experienced?

Angélica: I think a few of the difficult things about endometrial cancer is that oftentimes black women are unheard.

Angélica: And I believe that there is something to be said about that. It's an important thing to kind of, let's sit with that and consider.

Angélica: But in addition, most people aren't comfortable talking about their lady parts.

Angélica: It's something you find culturally that people don't want to talk about it. I know in my family, I mean that is something that's taboo.

Angélica: And but I think and I really believe that there needs to be more discussion, that this topic isn't taboo and needs to be normalized. I think we need to pierce that culture.

Angélica: So women feel comfortable, empowered to have those conversations.

Teresa Cronin: I agree with you and a lot of families the topic of lady parts is definitely taboo, and I think we have to ensure our younger women feel comfortable having these conversations.

Teresa Cronin: And that's the benefit of a campaign like Spot Her®. It really aims to take the stigma out of talking about endometrial cancer and help educate women and the people that surround them.

Teresa Cronin: How did you first hear about the Spot Her® campaign, and what inspired you to share your story?

Angélica: Well, I shared my story of living with endometrial cancer with the Spot Her® campaign in 2023 to help break the silence around endometrial cancer and encourage women to speak up and not think of their GYN health as a taboo subject.

Angélica: Women need to be empowered to spot the signs of endometrial cancer early. And I was definitely happy to lend my voice to an initiative such as that.

Angélica: Spot Her®, I mean, really, essentially, is helping put a spotlight on endometrial cancer and raise awareness of this disease and the importance of early detection.

Teresa Cronin: Thank you so much for sharing your story with us today. Every story like yours really helps other women spot the early signs of this disease.

Teresa Cronin: Spot Her® is an important part of Eisai's human health care mission, and we are so honored to share the stories of people like Angélica through our educational programs to remind us all of the importance of keeping patients at the center of everything we do.

Teresa Cronin: Patients and caregivers can visit spotherforec.com for additional resources and to learn more about the campaign.

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