Kim Lamke never intended to become the face of ovarian cancer.
She never intended for her life-altering diagnosis to gain a following on social media, but that's exactly what happened.
"I call it my tribe. But yeah, it is. It's a very large tribe. And it just keeps extending. We hear family members will say, hey, I have a friend in China, and they're praying for you, or I know somebody in Germany, and they're praying for you or so it's really cool," explained Lamke.
It's been five months since Lamke first heard the word cancer.
"It was so surreal. It was like an out-of-body experience. I remember laying there, and my husband was crying, and I just went, okay. Okay. I have to process this. But okay," she said. "It just didn't hit me. It really didn't hit me, I think, until I saw Dr. Wenham at Moffitt and he diagnosed me with Ovarian cancer."
She continued, "I started to notice that my midsection was getting a little bit more full and bloated. I would get full quickly after eating, I was a little more gassy than usual. By the middle to end of June, I was extremely distended in my stomach. I looked pregnant. And I was starting to have trouble breathing."
These were her only symptoms.
"That's what's so frustrating about ovarian cancer, it's often not detected until it's a stage three or four. You know, I'd faithfully gone and gotten my mammogram every year. I had gone in for my annual woman's exam and had a pap smear, and everything was always negative. There was no reason for concern. My family doesn't have a history really of cancer."
Dr. Robert Wenham at Moffitt Cancer Center is Lamke's doctor. He said a new tool in the fight against ovarian cancer, called Cytolux, is a game changer.
"It's a dye that's attached to an antibody that we give the patient before surgery. And during the time of surgery, we use a near-infrared laser camera to try to detect extra disease that we cannot see," explained Dr. Wenham.
Thanks to this new technology, surgeons are able to remove more tumors which helps improve survival rates.
Lamke and her family are hoping she'll soon become the face of success for this new technology.
This diagnosis has changed their family forever, but surprisingly most of it's good.
"I didn't think I could appreciate her more. But seeing what she does on a daily basis, and her positivity and her dedication, and then hit knowing what she's done all of these years as a mom that now I'm helping with. With carline, pickups and drop-offs, and stuff around the house. I'm just I'm amazed. I'm amazed, and I didn't think I could appreciate her any more. And the silver lining and all of this is that I've, I've found more appreciation and love for her in this process and just seeing how she's doing," explained her husband, Rob.
"You have two choices. You can let a cancer diagnosis run your life and let you let it define who you are. Or you can fight against it and not let it define who you are, and do everything you can to stay positive and show your children and show your friends and show your family that this is not me. We're going to get this," said Lamke.
