Sophie’s mum died of ovarian cancer – don’t tell her it’s tabooMedia caption, ‘I got a lot of one-on-one time with my mum’ – FawnsBySophia Hartley, BBC Sport journalist and John Skilbeck, BBC Sport senior journalistPublished1 hour agoSophie Fawns remembers her 18th birthday vividly, but not so fondly.What springs to mind is her mother, Maureen, encouraging her to go out, drink a shot, party with her friends, and forget about looming exams.Such a message was not typical of Maureen. It was “really nice, but weird”, Sophie says.Sophie grew up as one of four sisters from the city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia.She is 22 now, plays professional netball for Manchester Thunder, and is an old head on young shoulders. “I’ve always been quite mature for my age,” she says.The 18th birthday and her mother’s words are intertwined in her memory.’Tomorrow will look after itself’ was the gist of her mother’s message.On the day after Sophie’s landmark birthday, Maureen was taken to hospital. She died the next day, aged 52.Maureen hadn’t told Sophie and her sisters the ovarian cancer she had been treated for was terminal.Image source, Sophie FawnsImage caption, Sophie Fawns and mother Maureen shared a love of netballIt’s an utterly heartbreaking story. But Sophie doesn’t want death to be its final chapter.She wants to talk about ovarian cancer. She wants to talk about Maureen. She’d like you to listen. Above all, she’d like to help save lives.Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed late – too late. Symptoms are not always obvious. It takes the lives of about 4,000 women each year in the UK.The ovaries are egg-producing glands in the pelvis, a primary part of the female reproductive system. Without them, the human race doesn’t exist.Not everyone wants to hear about gynaecological matters.But Sophie’s experience tells her that looking the other way makes no sense.”People are so quick to shut down the conversation and think of it as quite taboo and they don’t want to talk about it, and I’m not quite sure why,” she tells BBC Sport.’I’m running as a pair of ovaries in mum’s memory’
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Published21 March
