In the summer, while students enjoyed their sun-filled break, sophomore Izzy Ginavan started her battle with stage one ovarian cancer.

“I was scared,” Izzy said. “My step mom’s a surgeon and so she helped me out a lot and told me that it was going to be OK.”

On May 5, Izzy woke up with a severe pain in her lower abdomen. The same morning she went to the emergency room and got a CT scan. They thought the pain was caused by appendicitis.

What the doctors found was much more serious. The CT scan found a tumor on her ovary and two days later when it was removed, they discovered that the tumor was a 10 by 10 in immature teratoma, a rare ovarian germ cell tumor.

“I asked her a couple days before chemotherapy started what she thought, and she said, ‘We just have to get through this, I don’t have a choice,’” Izzy’s mother Michelle Ginavan Hayes said. “She was tough on the outside, but as scared as anyone would be on the inside.”

Izzy went through a 12-week chemotherapy treatment from June 8 to Aug. 25. She spent the better part of her summer at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka. At St. Francis she followed a vigorous three week cycle for her treatments, the first week consisting of four to six hours of chemo five days a week, and the following weeks having a few hours of the treatment on Tuesday mornings.

“She would start out strong on Monday,” Michelle said. “Then each day would bring her down more and more. It was hard to come back [for treatment] by Thursday.”

Although not knowledgeable previously, step-sister Mado Hayes, along with other friends and family, soon learned more about the cancer and treatment to help Izzy through the process.

“Chemo is basically poison,” Mado said. “And so that affected her both physically and emotionally.”
People close to Izzy learned to deal with the effects the cancer had on her and their relationship.

“It was hard to see her go through it,” friend Kyler Kelley said. “She had chemical reactions with some of the medicines they gave her. So some things she wouldn’t let me see because of those. And she was always so tired.”

Dealing with the effects of the treatment, she lacked the energy for simple everyday tasks.

“She definitely couldn’t do anything physical,” Kyler said. “So going on a walk… s couldn’t do that, she wouldn’t last.”

Not being able to participate in physical activities, like basketball, was one of the many effects that the treatment had on Izzy.

“Well it made me lose my hair, which that was the main thing I didn’t like about it,” she said. “I [also] couldn’t do anything with anybody all summer.”

Though dealing with the cancer was tough, Izzy had support from her friends and family.

“Most people give up on it and dwell on having the cancer,” Izzy’s boyfriend Kyler Kelley said. “[but] she was strong and confident, always.”

Her step-mother, being a surgeon, also provided another level of comfort for her and her family.

“Her step-mom was a wealth of knowledge and knew a lot of the doctors that were involved with Izzy’s treatment,” Michelle said. “It was comforting [being] with people who knew her and who were going to take care of my daughter.”

Now in remission, Izzy is back attending school with her friends.

“[With cancer] you totally kill all the cells in the body, and that can totally change the mindset of someone,” Kyler said. “But she stayed the same, she’s still the same girl that she was when I met her.”

Though back to her previous schedule and activities Izzy will have periodic checkups to make sure that the remission is going smoothly, every few months for years to come.

“There is no sign of the cancer now,” Izzy’s mother, Michelle, said. “[But] it’s hard to let your guard down.”

Izzy’s mother shares her opinion on her daughter’s experience.

“She has learned a lot and she has experienced a lot — more than anyone should have to learn,” Michelle said. “Especially a high school sophomore.”

Though through undesirable circumstances, Izzy did gain friendships, knowledge, and new perspectives from the experience.

“I met lots of people in their 20s that had breast cancer,” Izzy said. “And I’ve met girls my age that live far away that have ovarian cancer, and we get in touch.”

Her mother Michelle also shared some positives she took away from the difficult situation.

“We met lots of people,” she said. “Nurses who cared for her in the hospital and in the cancer center, doctors and social workers, and strangers in the Cancer Center in the same situation.”

Despite the difficult situation, Izzy overcame and is now thriving.

“I am amazed by the strength my daughter has,” Michelle said. “She has been through an awful experience, and she came through shining on the other side.”