On Friday, Nov. 14, the women of Omega Tau Zeta held their eighth annual charity banquet for ovarian cancer, Petal by Petal. The banquet was held at Hale Hall from 6 to 8 p.m. The evening started with a presentation about the sorority by Valerie Tiu, a fourth-year in biology and president of Omega Tau Zeta. The sorority's philanthropy chairs, Elizabeth Molla and Huynh Son, shared information about ovarian cancer.
The event continued with a catered dinner followed by a presentation from Dr. Ritu Salani, a Columbus area gynecologist. Salani discussed her research on ovarian cancer and risk factors of the disease.
"There will be over 21,000 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed, and sadly about 15,000 of those women will not win the battle against the cancer," Salani said.
Cathy Koch, an ovarian cancer survivor, shared her experience with the disease. Koch described the process she went through when first being diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer. She joked about losing her hair after chemotherapy and the large scar on her abdomen. Her main message was the necessity of being positive and maintaining a sense of humor when fighting the disease.
Koch emphasized that early stages of the disease can resemble influenza, and encouraged women to get testing as soon as symptoms occur.
"Tell everyone. Your mother, your grandmother, even your little sisters," she said. "There have been cases where girls as young as 6 years old were diagnosed."
The goal of the evening for the women of Omega Tau Zeta was to help women understand the disease and provide support for those that have had personal experiences with it.
"Once one person knows more about the silent disease, then that is one more person who is able to spread awareness of the disease," Tiu said.
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