All About Eve

Each year, around one million women are diagnosed with gynaecological cancers worldwide compared to other major cancer killers such as lung cancer (1.4 million).

That’s one million reasons to have a charity like The Eve Appeal.

We are the only UK charity dedicated to funding research into all four gynaecological cancers. In the UK, however, ovarian cancer is the most common and fatal gynaecological cancer, which is why it is the focus of our current fundraising campaign.

When it is detected at its most advanced stage, over 85% of women who develop ovarian cancer will die from the disease, but when it is detected in the early stages, 95% of women will survive.

So clearly there is work to be done.

Our urgent challenge is to raise £2.6M by 2010 for one of the world’s largest and most successful gynaecological cancer research programmes. Based at University College London, this comprises an internationally recognised team led by Professor Ian Jacobs, the UK’s leading gynaecological oncologist.

The team has one ambitious aim - to develop research techniques that will reduce the number of women dying from ovarian cancer by 50% within 10 years The Eve Appeal is determined to raise the remaining funding required so that this ambition will become a reality.

It’s a major undertaking. But the real challenge is to save the lives of women who develop ovarian cancer. And the faster we can raise the money, the more chance we will have.

"I Was One of the Lucky Ones"

Alex Ford, The Eve Appeal’s CEO, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 33 when she went to her GP with symptoms from a large ovarian cyst.

‘I just stopped eating because the cyst was pressing on my stomach, so I had to go. Suspecting I had a cyst meant that I had the same test that is used to help diagnose ovarian cancer. It was just pure luck that the cancer was picked up and treated so quickly. I joined The Eve Appeal because I am so aware of the fact that I was one of the few lucky ones and I believe women deserve better odds than this’.