Nyngan mother of four and farmer Susan Barclay is one of the people whose experiences with ovarian cancer are highlighted in videos in the latest campaign by fashion designers Carmilla and Marc (C&M) to raise awareness of the disease.

Ovaries - Talk about Them. is their latest effort to drive to drive awareness and raise more funds for the University of New South Wales Gynaecological Cancer Research Group to develop an early detection test, this time through t-shirt sales. 

In just four years, C&M has already raised $1.7 million for the research lab.   

“We all come from ovaries, or we have ovaries, we wouldn't exist without them. So, let's get comfortable talking about them. Buy a t-shirt. Make a donation. Join the conversation,” said the siblings, who lost their mother to ovarian cancer when she was just 42. 

With three women dying of ovarian cancer each day and over 310,000 women diagnosed worldwide each year - 75 per cent of them in late stages - the disease is one of the deadliest to women and yet there is still no test for it. 

By 2050 it is projected that 503,448 women will be given a diagnosis of ovarian cancer (a rise of over 55 per cent from 2022), with the number of women dying rising to 350,956, an increase of almost 70 per cent. 

“The statistics are getting worse, and we are running out of time,” said Camilla and Marc.

Susan was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in April of 2022, after having preventative surgery years before to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes once she discovered she was positive for the BRCA gene mutation which increases the risk of ovarian cancer.   

Susan with her new granddaughter Matilda: photo supplied.

An opportunity for early ovarian cancer detection was missed in testing, and two years later Susan became unwell and was shocked to the core to be told she had stage 4 ovarian cancer, despite doing everything she could to prevent it.  

“If the right testing had of been done in 2018, I would have had stage one ovarian cancer,” she said.

“This news left me totally devastated.  

“It’s taken me two years to be mentally strong enough to tell this side of my story. The video has brought up lots of strong emotions, but I knew I needed to tell the story if only to help others. 

“Every cent from this C&M Ovaries. Talk about Them. campaign goes to helping fund the researchers who are trying to find an early detection test.   

“As there is currently no way of detecting ovarian cancer now, it is, absolutely something we need to keep researching. To catch it an early stage, women have such a better chance to beat this insidious disease compared to detecting it at an advanced stage.  

“I just hope I’m still here to hear my granddaughters say, ‘we can’t believe there was no detection test in your day Nan’.”  

Camilla and Marc with father David Freeman - raising awareness for Ovarian Cancer. Photo courtesy Camilla & Marc website.

The fashion house has partnered with Professor Caroline Ford, Dr Kristina Warton and a team of scientists and researchers at the UNSW Gynaecological Research Group who are leading the development of the world’s first DNA-based early detection test.

The aim is for the funding from Ovaries. Talk About Them. to get the ground-breaking test to clinical trials.

“We are so close to getting an early detection test for ovarian cancer to clinical trials in the next two years,” they said at the campaign launch.