“I was diagnosed last year with ovarian cancer,” says Carla Camp, a stage IV ovarian cancer survivor. “On July 21, I was 46 years old. I came home that day and was talking with my partner. She told me I obviously needed to do something right away. I was just in a daze.” Camp learned of her diagnosis after undergoing a CT scan.

She was then referred to John McBroom, M.D, a gynecologic oncologist. “I didn’t know whether I was going to live or die,” she says. “I had to trust that whatever Dr. McBroom was telling me was going to be the truth. The only thing I could deal with was the truth and the facts. A lot of people don’t want to know that.”

Finding strength throughout her cancer journey

“I pretty much fell apart,” she says. “I leaned so much on my partner at that time for any information. I wasn’t absorbing it. Dr. McBroom told me at that point in time that we were a team, and he would make sure I knew every single thing that was going on.” Camp says she called and spoke with Dr. McBroom on a daily basis. “He kept telling me, ‘You’re strong. You can do this,’” she says. “Through the chemotherapy and the HIPEC hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy I went through, he made me feel as if I had a partner to walk with."

HIPEC is used to treat patients with abdominal cancers. This procedure allows chemotherapy to be administered directly to the abdominal area rather than intravenously. “I still don’t know what my fate is,” she says. “What I do know is that I have chosen the right person. I do know that if I had not chosen Dr. McBroom, not just because of his surgical skills, but because he knew what I needed at the time, I would not be where I am now.” 

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