When Sonja Loadholt, 56, went in for her annual gynecological exam, she expected nothing out of the ordinary. She was healthy, active, and energetic, exercising regularly, traveling with her church community, and working in the pharmaceutical industry.
“I was healthy. I didn’t feel sick. I was still exercising,” Loadholt said. “I had no symptoms.”
But her longtime physician noticed something unusual during the exam and urged her to get an ultrasound. Loadholt admits she put it off at first. “I didn’t think it was urgent.”
That changed when her doctor called her, emphasizing the need to act quickly. The ultrasound revealed what looked like a mass on her ovary. A biopsy and an MRI soon followed, confirming it wasn’t just a cyst but something solid and worrisome. Within weeks, Loadholt was sitting in an exam room with Linda Hong, MD, a gynecologic oncologist at Loma Linda University Health. Surgery was scheduled almost immediately.
“I was still hoping it would be benign,” Loadholt said. “But when I woke up, I heard the word cancer. My whole world stopped.”
Loadholt’s tumor was identified as ovarian carcinosarcoma, a rare and aggressive subtype that accounts for less than one to four percent of ovarian cancers.
Ovarian cancer itself is relatively uncommon, with about 3,000 cases diagnosed annually in the United States. But unlike breast cancer, there is no reliable screening test, and many women are diagnosed only after the disease has spread.
“We don’t usually know it’s cancer until after surgery,” Hong said.
For stage II ovarian cancers, five-year survival rates hover around 70 percent. But outcomes for carcinosarcoma are far poorer. “In our study, most patients with this subtype did not survive long term,” Hong said.
During surgery, Hong performed a total hysterectomy, removed both ovaries, dissected lymph nodes, removed the omentum, and carried out multiple biopsies. “Ovarian cancer doesn’t respect boundaries,” she explained. “It can spread anywhere in the abdomen, bowel, spleen, and liver. Sometimes we have to remove those, too.”
After surgery, Loadholt began six rounds of chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel, the standard regimen for ovarian cancer. Treatments lasted up to eight hours and were scheduled every three weeks, though low blood counts sometimes forced delays.
“I’ve educated patients and providers about chemotherapy for 20 years,” said Loadholt, who works as a pharmaceutical consultant in oncology. “But being the patient is completely different. The fatigue, the nausea, the way it wipes you out, I never understood it until I went through it.”
She also underwent genetic testing, which is recommended for every ovarian cancer patient, regardless of family history. “About 15 percent of ovarian cancers are caused by inherited mutations,” Hong said. “If a patient tests positive, their children should be tested too.”
Loadholt’s diagnosis had no warning signs, no bloating, abdominal pain, or fatigue. “If I hadn’t gone for my annual checkup, I never would have known,” she said.
That silence makes ovarian cancer difficult to detect and fuels a sense of invisibility around the disease. “A lot of times, it’s diagnosed at stage three or four, when options are limited,” Loadholt said.
She credits her faith and community for carrying her through treatment. Friends from church, her daughters, and even her pastor formed a support circle that rarely left her side.
“After surgery, there were 15 people in the room with me when Hong explained everything,” she said. “I was never alone.”
Now in remission, Loadholt has returned to her routines, working, traveling, and exercising up to five times a week. She recently went on a cruise and is planning a trip to Greece.
Loadholt hopes her story will encourage other women to prioritize their health. “Too many women skip their annual exams,” Loadholt said. “That checkup saved my life. If I can convince one woman to go, it’s worth it.”
From breast health to gynecologic care, treatment of pelvic pain and female cancers to menopause management, and beyond, Loma Linda University Health cares for the whole woman. To learn more about women’s health, visit online.