Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus of Australia had a health scare this week. When investigating the cause of an ongoing hip issue, the 23-year-old found out she had tumors residing on one of her ovaries.
Titmus, who took home the gold in the 200m and 400m freestyle individual events at the Tokyo Olympic Games, took to social media to detail her ordeal.
“Sometimes as an athlete, you think you’re immune to real-life health problems. We’re too busy keeping our bodies in check to perform and push ourselves day in and day out.
“For a while, I’ve been managing an ongoing hip injury, and 3 weeks ago I had an MRI to suss out exactly what was going on. Sure enough, there was a little something with the hip of which is completely manageable. However, it was something else that the doctors picked up on that made everything else seem irrelevant.
“A large growth was found on my right ovary.”
The freestyle ace continued to detail the fact that her ovary contained two benign tumors called dermoids. She underwent surgery on Thursday, September 14th during which they were safely removed.
“I’m feeling well and relieved they are out.”
Titmus described how her desire to one day have children made the situation particularly scary although the Dean Boxall–trained star said she is now resting and recovering for a couple of weeks before she gets back to training.
Titmus received overwhelming support in response to her post, with fellow Olympian Cate Campbell saying, “How awful! Glad you’ve got such a good team around you. Rest up and heal well.”
Retired IM Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Rice commented, “What a challenging time sweetheart. I’m glad you’re feeling better and taking care of yourself.”
Lani Pallister also chimed in with support, saying, “Sending lots of love, beyond proud of you for being so open and honest. Such an incredible role model.”
As for Campbell, the 31-year-old had a health scare of her own in 2018, where the superstar recounted her encounter with skin cancer. She revealed on social media that she had a mole removed due to having been diagnosed with stage 1 melanoma found during a routine skin check.
Get well soon!
Praying for a speedy recovery 💗
Stay safe n getterdone just continue to keep getting better
While the report is a bit strange (two “dermoids*” within the same ovary), the good news is that these are overwhelmingly benign neoplasms. Her age alone makes it that even more likely (vs. the immature counterpart, which typically presents prior to age 20, and is considered malignant, thus requiring chemotherapy post-op) and that she was in the majority of those with only unilateral presentation (10% bilateral at the time of diagnosis). She should recover well without significant long-term effects.
*mature teratoma being the more accurate nomenclature rather than dermoid.
What a relief that they were benign and able to be removed. All the best in your recovery and training for Paris Ariarne!
A lot of sports stars have horrible health scares – inc tumors – at a young age. Thankfully Arnie seems to be another who has this under control.
Get well soon, Arnie.
Good to hear the tumours were benign. Ovarian cancer is awful.
It is especially awful because of lack of screening tests unless you have risk factors. Can be silent for some time before detection. Sometimes incidental findings will save your life.
Heal Quick!
Indeed. Known as ‘the silent killer’.