Lynn with her husband Charlie (Picture: Lynn Laing)

As I looked in the mirror and smoothed my hands over my black sequinned dress, it clung to my stomach ever so slightly.

I was getting ready for my work Christmas do – I worked as a medical receptionist for a doctors’ surgery – and put my tummy down to the inevitable treats during the festive period.

By February 2023 though, my stomach had grown bigger, which was strange for my usually slim frame.

Other changes were happening in my body too. Walking up the stairs was more tiring than usual – I got out of breath easily and it felt like something was pushing on my chest.

Then I began to suffer with acid reflux and caught what I thought was a bug. It made me sick for a week, never thinking of asking the doctors at the surgery to investigate further.

Lynn with her son Euan(Picture: Lynn Laing)

By April, I had gone from a size 10 to a size 16, despite not eating more than I usually did. In fact, with the sickness I’d had, I was eating less.

I didn’t know what was happening – but I never expected to be told I had a massive cyst on my ovaries after already battling cancer.

That month I bent down and felt a pain under my breastbone. My colleague, a nurse, checked if I was OK and looked at my stomach. She made me a GP appointment for that night.

There, the doctor said: ‘Your stomach is very swollen, I’m going to refer you for an ultrasound scan.’

I was flooded with fear.

Thirteen years earlier I’d been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, which had spread to my arm, and I’d needed a single mastectomy to remove it before being given the all clear.

Then I had just over a year’s worth of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and medication to stop it coming back.

I was at work when I received a phone call with the results. The doctor said: ‘Could you get here Lynn, and bring someone with you?’

Nervous, I went along with a friend and the doctor told me he thought I had ovarian cancer. ‘There is a huge mass on your ovaries,’ he said, referring me for a CT scan.

I was sick with worry and confided in my husband Charlie, telling him how scared I was that the cancer had returned and spread. It would be my worst nightmare come true. ‘Let’s not worry until we get the results,’ he said.

By then, I was very self-conscious of my ‘bump’. It was even bigger than when I’d been pregnant 24 years ago. But at 62 years old, there was no way I was expecting again!

Lynn with the bump at Christmas (Picture: Lynn Laing)

Days later, I lay very still on a scanning bed for the CT. Afterwards, the doctor pointed at a screen, and I couldn’t believe my eyes – there was a 32cm mass sitting on my ovaries – the size of a watermelon.

‘My cancer has come back,’ I thought.

I was terrified.

It had only become obvious because of my small frame. I realised that, ironically, had I been a bigger person, it may have gone unnoticed for a long time.

Along with the removal of the cyst, it was decided I would have a full hysterectomy. I agreed, feeling lucky to have had my family already.

In May, I went in for surgery and when I came around, the surgeon told me they had got the cyst out in one piece and that it weighed 8kg.

No wonder I had felt so big and strained around my middle, I had been carrying something around inside me after all! The cyst was sent away to a lab to be tested.

I was also relieved to hear my bowel and lymph nodes had not needed to be removed, which I’d been told was a possibility.

After just six days of recovery time in hospital, I went home.

In June, the test results showed I had a very rare form of ovarian cancer, Mucinous Ovarian Cancer, diagnosed in only around 3% of new ovarian cancer cases.

A cancerous tumour was found on my left ovary, which was only detected when they tested the massive cyst after it was removed.

The cyst had started very small and had kept on growing. Thankfully the tumour was stage 1 and as it had been removed, I didn’t need any treatment.

How Lynn looks normally (Picture: Lynn Laing)

I was also informed it wasn’t linked to my previous breast cancer diagnosis, which came as more good news.

Now I am 10 weeks post-surgery and while I’m still a bit sore and get tired easily, I’m starting to go out for short trips when I’m feeling well enough. I hope to return to work as soon as I can.

I’ve lost two stone since the surgery, so I have been told to try and eat what I can and to drink shakes, in an attempt to regain some of the weight.

I also need to have scans and blood tests every three months to check the cancer hasn’t returned.

The results were the best I could have hoped for, and I am feeling so much better now with the tumour gone.

It’s crazy to think back to when I was convinced my wee belly was down to too many winter snacks when it first appeared.

Never did I imagine it was something far more sinister – and I feel lucky to be on the road to recovery.

As told to Julia Sidwell

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]. 

Share your views in the comments below.

MORE : ‘Doctors told me to lose weight – but I was living with a 6st ovarian cyst’

MORE : Woman who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer as a teen is now studying to be a doctor

MORE : ‘It seemed like fresher’s flu, then I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer aged 19’

I had a ‘bump’, which was even bigger than when I’d been pregnant 24 years before.