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The main problem is its symptoms: persistent bloating, abdominal or pelvic pain, urinary and/or bowel problems and difficulty in eating.

Taken on its own, each sign could easily indicate some other medical problem. In fact, 30 per cent of sufferers are misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.

For years, ovarian cancer was known as a silent killer, which really frustrates campaigners. "there are clear symptoms," says Jones. "You just have to know about them."

"Ovarian cancer has been overlooked for a long, long time - it's been put into the 'too difficult' box,' says Annwen Jones, chief executive of the target Ovarian cancer charity. "There has been a vicious circle: it's typically diagnosed at a late stage so we have had poor survival rates and, as a result, there's been little awareness of the disease and therefore very little funding for research. We desperately need to break that circle.

It's only when the symptoms are pieced together that a diagnosis is made easier.