69-year-old businesswoman from the United States Kate Ping went to the doctors with chronic bloating and digestive problems – the visit turned out to be the diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer and many months of treatment, the woman herself and her doctor Premal Thacker said in an interview with CBS News.
According to Johns Hopkins University, ovarian cancer is the fifth deadliest cancer among women in the United States. The American Cancer Society also estimates that patients with stage 4 have about a 30% chance of living an additional 5 years.
Ping finished chemotherapy this spring, but continues to take her medication daily. Last year she had a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) and several additional rounds of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor.
Kate Ping was too busy running two family businesses and worrying about her son, who was about to undergo open-heart surgery, to be concerned about bloating in her abdomen.
When her symptoms still hadn't receded two months after her son's successful operation, she made an… pic.twitter.com/aYRBDr6OP1— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 12, 2026
She noted that she doesn't think about the possibility of cancer returning (this happens to 70% of patients with a similar diagnosis), and focused on sharing her story as a warning about the symptoms of the disease.
According to Ping, a nurse who requested a CT (computed tomography) scan during her first visit played a key role in diagnosing her problem. She subsequently told her about a personal tragedy associated with the same diagnosis.
“She told me that one of her best friends died of ovarian cancer, which went unnoticed. She looked at my symptoms and decided it was worth getting checked out. I believe she saved my life,” Ping said.
Ping's main symptom of cancer was severe bloating, which did not go away for a long time and caused skin sensitivity in the navel area. The entrepreneur herself attributed this to stress due to the heart surgery for which her son was preparing, as well as daily care of the family business.
Ping's treating physician, oncologist Premal Thacker of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, called ovarian cancer and its symptoms “insidious” in an interview with CBS News.
As she noted, the tumor causes fluid to accumulate in the abdominal cavity, which can cause a feeling of bloating that does not go away. Other symptoms include feeling full too quickly when eating and a sudden change in how often you go to the toilet. Another sign of the disease may be sudden weight gain in the absence of changes in diet, the doctor emphasized.
