A woman survived four bouts of cancer without ever feeling a symptom.
Jan Bentley, 61, was first diagnosed after a trip to the GP due to a "tiny" postmenopausal bleed saw her referred to Arrowe Park Hospital where doctors found something "suspicious" on her ovaries.
She felt fine, but her research and referral told her she might have cancer.
READ MORE: 'Monster' killed 'happy' toddler then blamed her mum to cover his crime
Jan, who is originally from Walton and lives in Oxton, said: "I was feeling a little bit shocked because I felt so well.
"I didn't have any of the usual symptoms of any of the gynae cancers. I was like a rabbit in the headlights."
She added: "The research I'd done, had said, with what I knew at this point, that there was, I think, a 25% chance that it wasn't going to be cancer, and I was convinced I'd be in the 25%."
Even when Arrowe Park referred her to Liverpool Women's Hospital, Jan kept quiet about it to her dad and sister, and limited what she told her partner and friends, until she got a definitive diagnosis.
Jan said: "I was trying to be optimistic, but also waking up at four in the morning quite frightened.
"Because I felt quite well, I didn't feel ill at all, and I had no symptoms, it felt a bit bizarre, as if it wasn't happening to me.
"And I couldn't talk about it because people would say, 'But you look so well', which they still do to this day.
"It makes me feel like a hypochondriac in some respects, which is ridiculous, obviously."
Jan's four week wait for surgery felt like two years and she woke up too angry about the surprise stoma on her abdomen with doctors saying the Stage 3 ovarian carcinoma was more advanced than expected.
Chemotherapy knocked stoma woes to the backseat as Jan lost her hair, wore a wig, and focused on being and looking well enough for her best friend's daughter's wedding.
A third of people with ovarian cancer die within a year of their diagnosis, while more than 35% live longer than 10 years.
Jan was determined to make it past five years, but the cancer kept coming back, leading to two more rounds of chemotherapy and its side effects in summer 2017 and autumn 2018.
She said: "It was disheartening because I felt as if I was gonna be having chemo every year for the rest of my life pretty much."
Fortunately, an "absolute game changer" drug - PARP - became available, giving Jan two years without chemo until last year when another "totally separate" cancer - non-Hodgkin lymphoma - appeared.
A biopsy of a lesion discovered on her liver during treatment for this cancer revealed a third recurrence of ovarian cancer.
Now the lymphoma is cured and Jan finishes chemotherapy for ovarian cancer this month, six years after she was first diagnosed.
Jan said: "I think I'm incredibly lucky to have the diagnosis I had in this city. With Liverpool Women's Hospital, with the Clatterbridge Centre, the treatment is phenomenal.
"They're so up to date with what's going on, and at the top of their game."
Many people aren't so lucky, with ovarian cancer often caught in late stages when it may be incurable but treatable.
Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK, killing thousands of people every year, but most women don't know its main symptoms.
In a poll of 1,000 women, conducted for Target Ovarian Cancer, almost all were unaware that feeling full and needing to urinate more urgently are symptoms.
More than two thirds didn't know abdominal pain is a sign, and 79% were unaware bloating is a symptom.
Two thirds of women surveyed wrongly believed cervical screening checks for ovarian cancer.
Annwen Jones OBE, chief executive of Target Ovarian Cancer, said: "These figures are incredibly disappointing.
"We know we've shifted the dial in the past 10 years, through the dedication of thousands of Target Ovarian Cancer's campaigners. But it is not enough.
"Knowing the symptoms is crucial for everyone. We need to make sustained and large-scale government-backed symptoms campaigns a reality.
"Progress is possible. If we do this, fewer people will be diagnosed late, fewer will need invasive treatment, and ultimately, fewer will die needlessly from ovarian cancer."
Jan told the ECHO: "There's a huge lack of awareness of symptoms, and prior to my diagnosis, I had no idea what the symptoms were or that it was classed incurable at a certain level.
"It was only because I research - you know, if I've got a symptom, I'm going onto Dr Google and checking what that is - that I took myself off to my GP."
She added: "I was diagnosed six years ago with this type of ovarian cancer. Yes, I have had recurrences, but I'm still here, and they're still offering me treatment.
"It's important for people to realise that it is something that, if we're lucky and the treatment works, you can live with it.
"I very much feel that I live with cancer rather than suffer from it. It's just part and parcel of my day-to-day experience.
"There are times when I genuinely forget. To be honest, it's hard to forget when you've got a stoma and a colostomy bag, but sometimes I genuinely feel that."
