Ruby Smith, pictured with her family, who also feature in the Dig Deeper music video, hopes sharing her story will raise awareness about ovarian cancer.
Ruby Smith, pictured with her family, who also feature in the Dig Deeper music video, hopes sharing her story will raise awareness about ovarian cancer.
Turning pain into purpose is the aim of a Northland ovarian cancer patient, who hopes a song about her cancer fight will raise awareness of what is known as a silent killer.
Ruby Smith, Ngāpuhi, was 32 when she was diagnosed with stage 3 mucinous ovarian cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of just 25%.
She had just given birth to her third child and both the pregnancy, and her young age, led to a delay in diagnosis and treatment.
Smith has since had to pay $30,000 for immunotherapy treatment bevacizumab, known as Avastin, because it is not funded for ovarian cancer.
She recently travelled to Japan for cell-based immune therapy to give her the best chance of fighting the cancer. Fundraisers in her Paihia community helped with the costs.
But there have been times in her cancer fight when she was in a dark place and feeling very alone. She ended up writing the song Dig Deeper about her journey, encouraging people to find inner strength.
On Thursday, which was World Ovarian Cancer Day, Smith and her supporters officially launched the song and its music video at Zane Grey’s in Paihia.
She hopes it will also raise awareness of ovarian cancer, which is referred to as a silent killer because women often do not know they have it until it has spread through their body.
Ruby Smith's daughter Amber Honey-Smith proudly holds a plaque donating Dig Deeper to the Ovarian Cancer Foundation.
Smith wants to encourage Māori and Pasifika women, in particular, to look for symptoms and get tested, as they have much higher rates of ovarian cancer than other ethnicities.
“I don’t know if what I do is helpful but I’m Māori and I have ovarian cancer. Maybe not being afraid to talk about it is a start,” she said.
“When I wrote Dig Deeper it was one of the hardest parts of my life. It’s not just my story but every woman with ovarian cancer.”
Smith said she has been lucky to have the support of the community, including those who helped create a professional song: music producer Erick Gerber, videographer Ash Boyd and Philippa Kriz who lent venue Willow’s Ranch for the music video.
Dig Deeper is now available on YouTube for people to enjoy, with encouragement to donate to the Ovarian Cancer Foundation.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.
