Woman who lost best friend to ovarian cancer receives same diagnosis months later

A Minnesota woman whose best friend died from ovarian cancer was stunned when she was diagnosed with the same disease less than a year later.Becky Drexler was there to support her best friend, Connie Dahl, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer in April 2015 at age 51.After a courageous battle, Dahl passed away in September 2017.During her friend’s cancer fight, Drexler began volunteering with the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance (MOCA).After retiring in 2017, Drexler was making plans to travel, garden, volunteer and spend more time with family and friends – but those plans were interrupted by her own diagnosis in July 2018.“I was diagnosed with stage 3B high-grade serous ovarian cancer,” Drexler, now 65, told Fox News Digital.Like her best friend, Drexler dismissed her own symptoms – including frequent urination, constipation, bloating and hip pain – as common signs of aging.

She put off seeing a doctor at first.“By early summer, I felt I was getting signs from Connie to nudge me along,” she wrote in an essay sent to Fox News Digital.“Dragonflies represent Connie to me since she passed, and I saw them everywhere.

I recall one afternoon being on my patio thinking, ‘Should I go see the doctor?’ when a couple dragonflies in my flower garden just wouldn’t leave me alone.I said out loud, ‘OK, Connie, I’ll go in and talk to the doctor.’”On Drexler’s 57th birthday, her doctor called to say a CT scan had detected masses on both ovaries.

After meeting with an oncologist, she had surgery four days later.Drexler underwent six chemotherapy treatments (carboplatin and taxol) from September 2018 to January 2019.“Those months were difficult but also filled with the support, love and laughter of family, friends, care team and MOCA,” she said.“I knew Connie was part of my team as well – just in a different way.”Throughout Drexler’s cancer fight, she drew inspiration from her friend’s vow to “be positive, and to ...