COMEDY is sometimes the best therapy.

A group of ovarian cancer volunteers who’ve never met face-to-face, are in the throes of organising a comedy night at Little Creatures Next Door on October to raise funds for Ovarian Cancer Australia.

The event, ’sTEALing Laughs’, makes reference to the colour teal which has been adopted to promote ovarian cancer, which is one of the deadliest diseases for women. It has just a 43 per cent survival rate after five years, compared to 89 per cent for breast cancer.

Friends and family

The 10 women who’ve organised the event are mostly full time workers doing it in their minimal spare time, and all have had a brush with ovarian cancer, either personally or through friends and family.

“We chose a comedy event because cancer is still a taboo topic, we have to remember cancer victims are still alive, it is important for them to enjoy the moment,” volunteer Michele Brissett says.

OCA, a non-profit charity, has no funding from the government but is working to improve the five-year survival rate by 25 per cent by 2025. They hope to do it through fundraisers to support education campaigns and research, as well as supporting women and families that are affected.

A thousand Australian women die each year from ovarian cancer while 1,480 are diagnosed.

There is no test to identify ovarian cancer early, but women can look for symptoms such as abdominal or pelvic pain, a bloated abdomen, frequent urination or feeling full after a small meal.

Making it even trickier to detect, these can be everyday symptoms for women says Ms Brissett.

“There isn’t enough awareness and not enough research; by the time the symptoms show in most cases it is already at stage three, that is why it is often called the silent killer,” she says.

The show is $75 a ticket and includes a welcome drink, canapes and comedy acts from Janelle Koenig, Suns of Fred, Sian Choyce and Famous Sharron.

For tickets go to http://www.ovariancancer.force.com/events/tol 

by KORO BROWN