Kate Nicolai left behind devastated friends and family when she died of ovarian cancer at age 32, after being diagnosed in February.
"Six months ago she was fit and healthy," husband Andrew Nicolai said.
She developed a pain in her stomach, so she went to see a doctor.
Tests showed one of her ovaries was 24 centimetres long, with a cancerous tumour inside. Generally, ovaries are three to five centimetres.
"Three weeks later we had an oncology appointment and she was in a fair bit of pain. Then we found out she had stage four ovarian cancer," Mr Nicolai said.
"It went from ovarian to lung cancer and then I got a phone call saying it was in the brain."
She went through radiation and chemotherapy.
"The first round of chemo went OK, then she got an infection. She was given 48 hours to live, but she lived for another six months," he said.
She died a fortnight ago.
The Medowie couple were married for four years and together for seven.
"I knew the first day I kissed her I was going to marry her," Mr Nicolai said.
He spoke to the Newcastle Herald to help raise awareness of his wife's condition, as she thought this was important.
"She had endometriosis from a young age. So many women have it," he said.
He raised concerns about women having to "jump through hoops to get a full hysterectomy".
"She's been trying to have a hysterectomy since she was 18 or 19 when she had her daughter," he said.
"Men can go and get the snip in day surgery. I don't understand it."
The Brisbane-based QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute found in 2019 that "ovarian cancer risk reduction could be considered as a possible benefit of hysterectomy when making decisions about surgical management of endometriosis".
Doctors can be reluctant to perform a hysterectomy due to women becoming infertile after surgery, and it doesn't always cure endometriosis.
Mr Nicolai understood this, but said "quality of life" was also important.
Ovarian cancer is Australia's deadliest female cancer, with a five-year survival rate of 49 per cent.
Each year, about 1815 women in Australia are diagnosed with the disease and about 1000 women die from it. About 50 cases occur in the Hunter New England district each year.
Ovarian cancer is a difficult disease to detect. There is no early detection test and the signs and symptoms are often vague and mimic other conditions.
Advocates, including late ABC Newcastle broadcaster Jill Emberson, have called for large-scale and long-term funding for ovarian cancer research.
Mr Nicolai backed calls for more research. He also praised the Calvary Mater and Newcastle Private hospitals for their treatment of his wife.
"I can't thank the doctors and nurses enough," he said, adding they gave her six months of extra life.
He thanked the Calvary Mater oncology doctor Janine Lombard.
"She was wonderful," he said.
He spoke highly of the hospice at the Calvary Mater and said hospital staff don't get paid enough.
"I earn triple what they do and that's wrong," said Mr Nicolai, a supervisor with a mining contractor.
"There was also a nurse at Newcastle Private who finished her shift and sat with us for 45 minutes to make sure we understood it all. You don't get that every day."
He said his wife "made me a better person".
"There was never a drama, always a solution," he said.
She sold caravans for a living.
"She was great at her job. Even until the end, she kept working from home from her bed. Everyone loved her."
She encouraged her husband to play cricket when she was sick.
"She didn't want me to be at the hospital. She said 'go live your normal life, you need an out'.
"Her attitude was, there's always somewhere worse off. When she got diagnosed, me and her mum broke down and she just said 'righto doc, what's the treatment and when do we start?'"
She suffered extreme pain but "never shed a tear", even in the face of death.
"She was tough as nails and positive from day one to the last day."
Mr Nicolai's mate Nick Foster set up a GoFundMe page to support him and the couple's two children. It has raised more than $15,000.
"He was reluctant at first. He didn't want to come across as getting handouts from anyone. He's a proud guy," Mr Foster said.
"I sort of told him I'd do it whether he liked it or not. Others also asked him about it, including Kate's boss."
Mr Nicolai said: "I can't thank people enough."
