All it took was one symptom in 2022, and Kitty Reagan knew something was wrong.
“I was 68 years old, and I was bleeding. It was like I was having a period,” said Reagan, whose symptom was diagnosed as uterine cancer a few weeks later.
September is gynecological cancer month, and Reagan will be singing with the Les Reagan Singers for “Songs from the Soul,” a special concert on Sept. 5 in honor of Patti Fowler who died in April after a long-term battle with ovarian cancer. Read more about Fowler here.
Gynecologic cancers are cancers of the female reproductive system, including the cervix, ovaries, uterus, vagina and vulva.
According to the National Cancer Institute, about 110,850 women in the United States are estimated to be diagnosed with a gynecological cancer in 2025 and about 32,680 will die from the disease. Unlike mammograms to detect breast cancer, there are no screenings for some of these forms of gynecological cancer.
Ovarian cancer, for instance, has vague symptoms that can be attributed to something else and has sometimes been called a silent killer because it’s often no diagnosed until late stages.
Signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer may include abdominal bloating or swelling, quickly feeling full when eating, weight loss, discomfort in the pelvic area, fatigue, back pain, changes in bowel habits, such as constipation and a frequent need to urinate, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
But for Reagan’s diagnosis, the bleeding was a telltale sign. While the cancer was diagnosed early, it was aggressive. Doctors performed a hysterectomy early followed by six rounds of chemotherapy.
Treatments lasted six hours each, Reagan said, and the first one was brutal, leading her doctor to adjust the medication.
One of the worst parts of chemo was the intense, lingering brain fog. She recalled the day it lifted. It was like a switch that had been off had turned back on.
Reagan recently received an second cancer diagnosis. Doctors have found a cancer that is closing off her urethra. She will have a procedure to remove, but she doesn’t know the specifics of chemo and radiation.
In spite of the recent diagnosis, she’s looking forward to singing in the concert, which will benefit the CSRA Gynecological Cancer Support Group.
“It’s an all spirituals program,” said Les Reagan, group director and Kitty Reagan’s husband. “Russell Joel Brown will be featured. It’s going to be a lovely concert. It will be music a lot of people will know and some they won’t.”
Singers will wear teal, which is the color for gynecological cancers.
The concert will be at 7 p.m. at the Storey Chapel at First Baptist Church of Augusta. Tickets are $15-30. Get tickets here.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards and received the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
