North Texas woman makes it her mission to help others overcome ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women, according to the American Cancer Society.

Oftentimes, it goes undetected until it's too late, which is why a North Texas woman who calls herself a miracle has made it her life's mission to raise awareness about the disease.

At 44 years old, Jill Bach of Dallas was a busy wife and mother of two and said she wasn't too worried when a cough sent her to the doctor.

"I saw the doctor. He listens to my chest, and he goes, "I don't hear anything. I think you're fine, but let's go ahead and do a chest x-ray. While I was there for the chest x-ray, the x-ray tech looks at me and goes, 'Where's your left lung? When did you have it removed?' I go, ' Excuse me? I never had a lung removed,'" said Bach.

The X-ray didn't pick up the image of her lung because her lung had filled with fluid.

Further testing revealed cancer, but even more surprising was the diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer.

"Even when I got my biopsy results, I was like, 'Oh, they say you have adenocarcinoma.' I thought, 'Well, that doesn't sound that dangerous,' except for it said it was a gynecological primary. It wasn't lung primary. Then it started to click to me that this isn't just, you know, lung cancer. It started somewhere else," said Bach.

"I never really thought about ovarian cancer. It wasn't anything that, you know? There's no family history of it. It wasn't even anything I had heard about before."

Remarkably, chemotherapy and surgery left zero evidence of cancer, but it did leave Jill with two major revelations.

"I am of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, so I went ahead and did the BRCA gene testing. My oncologist told me, 'I don't think you need to do this because you have no family history.' I said, 'Well, the Ashkenazi Jewish descent is enough for me to do it.' It came back positive," said Bach.

One in 40 Ashkenazi Jewish women has a BRCA gene mutation, according to the CDC.

Mutations in BRCA genes raise a person's risk for getting breast cancer at a young age and also for getting ovarian and other cancers.

She underwent a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy to decrease her risk of breast cancer.

Her second revelation, she says, was her new desire to help others in the same cancer battle she found herself.

In 2012, she and three other ovarian cancer survivors started the Be The Difference Foundation, which has raised more than five million dollars for ovarian cancer support.

"When women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, there's really not a lot of hope given, unfortunately, because of the statistics, and as survivors, we wanted to do something to raise hope and raise awareness of the disease," said Bach.

"I feel like, in a way, I survived ovarian cancer to make a difference," she added.

The foundation just wrapped up a cycle fundraiser, where they raised more than $235,000.

According to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, common signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer include bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, trouble eating or feeling full quickly, and the need to urinate more often.

Ovarian cancer can often be misdiagnosed because other diseases can cause the symptoms. That’s why it’s important to listen to your body and talk to your doctor if something doesn’t feel right.