Ovarian cancer and faith A sixty-seven year old woman came to my office for a first visit in the spring of 1985. For anonymity, I will call her Helen B. She had for some time been employed as a hairdresser. Shortly after her first visit she presented for a routine physical examination, during which I felt something vaguely abnormal in her vagina as if there were a mass present. Though she had previously had a total hysterectomy, it was as if part of her cervix had been left behind, or that she had formed an excessive amount of scar tissue. At this time her liver tests were abnormal, indicating compromised liver function; her tests also showed she was noticeably anemic.