A medical student who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at just 17, throwing up outside A&E due to the 14cm cyst wrapped around her fallopian tube, is now training to be a doctor and says her diagnosis has only made her “more determined”. Elena Espinosa Cabrera, 20, who is studying at the University of Edinburgh and is from north Devon, was revising for her medical school entrance exams when she went to A&E with pain in her abdomen which she had thought was a muscle strain.
A 14cm cyst was found wrapped around her right ovary, and she said being told she had ovarian germ cell cancer was a “huge shock” – but has made her more determined to pave a career in medical care. After nine rounds of chemotherapy, Elena is not yet considered to be in remission but her cancer is now classed as “inactive”.
She said: “Being in the hospital environment was very interesting for me because it’s the field I want to go into, despite it being from the wrong perspective. My diagnosis has made me even more determined to train as a doctor and help others.”
