Linda Facey was a “reasonably healthy and fit” woman when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2001.

The former care homes inspector said she had been experiencing symptoms of the disease for some time, but had not been to see her GP until they became worse on a family holiday.

“For a while I had been experiencing some changes in my body which had bothered me a bit,” she said.

“At 43 years of age, with a young family and a responsible job, I put these down to natural changes in lifestyle and in my body. I had begun to think perhaps I should go to my GP and have them checked out.

“I did not realise then that some of these things were symptoms of a more serious problem which was later diagnosed as ovarian cancer.

“By the second week of my holiday I knew I had something more serious as the pain in my pelvic area increased and my tummy swelled.

“The clothes that had fitted me the week before now felt tight and uncomfortable and yet I had been eating less on holiday as I felt full when I ate.”

She said she decided to see her GP on her return home and underwent various tests.

She began to experience more severe pelvic pain and a swollen abdomen, and irritable bowel syndrome “seemed to be the diagnosis”, she said.

“Approximately seven weeks later after several trips to my GP I was very ill and unable to get out of bed without help,” she said.

“I ended up being diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer, that quick, the disease they call the ‘silent killer’.

“I knew deep down it had not been silent, I hadn’t thought I was ignoring anything dangerous ... I hadn’t checked it out.”

She has undergone four courses of chemotherapy and also radiotherapy on her pelvic area. Ms Facey had six years of almost continuous treatment after diagnosis.

Now aged 53, the mother-of-two is part of a support group for women based in Portsmouth and has played a part in drawing up the Nice guidelines.

“We need women to recognise their own bodies and notice the changes but be aware that some may need further investigation,” she said.

“In our busy lives we shouldn’t put concerns about our bodies on the back burner but should be knowledgeable.”

Meanwhile, family doctors are being urged to carry out blood tests on women suspected of having ovarian cancer in an effort to improve survival rates for the disease dubbed the “silent killer”.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women with around 6,800 women diagnosed with the disease every year in the UK.

But of these women, nearly two- thirds, or 65 per cent, will not live beyond five years of their diagnosis.

A blood test costing around £20 is being recommended for use by GPs for detecting whether the disease is likely to be present as part of new guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Sean Duffy, a consultant gynaecologist at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, and chairman of the Nice group that drew up the guidelines, urged a greater awareness of the key symptoms of ovarian cancer.

He said these included persistent abdominal bloating, feeling full in spite of only having a small amount to eat, pelvic or abdominal pain and needing to urinate urgently or more frequently.

Nice is recommending that GPs offer women, particularly those over 50 years old, the blood test designed to measure the level of a protein called CA125 in the blood if they experience these symptoms regularly.

“If the symptoms are persistent, don’t wait, act,” he urged women.

“We are promoting the blood test to get women on the right cancer pathway as soon as ­possible.

“The symptoms as described can be vague, but if they are persistent they should not be ignored.”

The blood test is currently used by hospital specialists for women with suspected ovarian cancer.