Women's voices amplify push for ovarian cancer test

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest form of the disease for women yet there is no early detection test that would save countless lives.

For restaurateur Michelle Grand-Milkovic, a routine follow-up after surgery for a hernia revealed she had stage 3, terminal ovarian cancer in tumours throughout her body.

"The journey of cancer can be an incredibly isolating one," Ms Grand-Milkovic said.

"For me, this journey has been about been about learning to surrender, not fight and in doing so have found myself more open to receiving."

Chronic underfunding and systemic bias in women's health have meant this disease, which affects millions worldwide each year, has not had the attention it needs.

Women experiencing common symptoms such as bloating, eating less and feeling fuller, abdominal pain, bladder problems and irregular spotting should see a doctor.

More than 100 women from across professional industries gathered at Ms Grand-Milkovic's restaurant love.fish Barangaroo for the final Collabor8Women event of 2025, which doubled as a fundraiser.

All money raised - more than $12,000 - has gone to the Camilla and Marc "Ovaries, talk about them" campaign, which is designed to get the world's first DNA-based early detection test to clinical trials by 2026.

"This special Collabor8Women lunch marks our 35th event since launching with just one table of eight back in December 2021," co-founder Karen Eck said.

"Since then, we've served about 2500 plates of culinary excellence from some of Australia's finest restaurants, shining a light on female leaders in hospitality ... (and) generated an estimated $1.45 million in economic value for NSW alone."

Ms Grand-Milkovic has been working in hospitality for 34 years and despite her diagnosis she has no plans to slow down.

"To me, hospitality is a warm embrace ... every day I reflect on how blessed I am to be surrounded by such love and light, when so many others are not as fortunate," she said.

"The reality is, all of us have and will face challenges, hardships, and loss. No one is greater or lesser than another's.

"That is the journey of life."