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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
She spent the last years of her life raising awareness about the disease that ultimately killed her.

Barbara Bird brought the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope to Yellowknife in 2010. She died Jan. 20 at age 60.

Barbara Bird was 60 years old when she lost her fight against cancer. -

Over three years, the Yellowknife walk raised close to $70,000 and Barbara's husband, Carl Bird, said the walk will continue again this September.

"Barbara was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2010," said Bird. "We were looking at resources to learn a little more and see how we can deal with it."

The search led the couple to the Ovarian Cancer Canada website where they learned about the Walk of Hope and saw that there was an option to hold a walk in Yellowknife.

"We only had five or six weeks to plan for it. They want all the walks to be held on the same date, and Barbara had surgery scheduled within a week of the date," said Bird.

"I asked, 'Do you think we can do this?' And Barbara said, 'How can we not?' Right away, she was thinking, let's do this and bring this awareness to Yellowknife."

Ovarian cancer is usually only detected in the later stages and there is no effective screening to catch it early. Symptoms often mimic those of menstruation or menopause and includes stomach pain, bloating, fatigue and back pain.

Barbara was a driving force behind the walk. Five days after her surgery in 2010 she was at the event and walked the first 100 metres, said Bird.

"She died at 60 years of age with so much more to do in life. But she got a lot done in her 60 years. She raised a beautiful daughter who's so much like her," said Bird.

Old home videos are what showed Jacquie Trowell just how similar she is to her mother in certain hand gestures and movements.

"What's really important, heartbreaking as it is, when someone says cancer, you don't really picture how corrosive it is until you have to see someone go through it," said Trowell.

"You know about it but you don't see the battle that they go through.

"Seeing my mom go through it, they're not just sick, they're debilitated. Their independence is taken away, their dignity and pride.

"I had to watch my mother go from a vibrant woman to nothing but skin and bones and only able to express herself through an eyebrow raise or a squeeze of a hand.

"To watch her not even able to take in a bite of food or bit of water without vomiting and bringing up blood ... it's something that really needs to hit people. It's one thing to understand that cancer kills, it's another thing to understand what it does to a person before it kills."

Right up until the end, Barbara was thinking of others before herself, said Bird.

"She was worried about what was going to happen to me and our daughter. She knew what was happening and she decided to make a memory quilt for (Jacquie). I was laughing because at the same time (Jacquie) was making a book with photos and they were both going through pictures, not knowing what the other was up to," said Bird.

Barbara's celebration of life was held this past Sunday and Jacquie and Carl said around 200 people participated. In three days, a tribute page, created for messages and donations toward ovarian cancer research, has so far raised an additional $2,100.

"Right now with ovarian cancer, there's no easy way to detect it before you get to the stage Barb was at, which was stage three. That's why the mortality rate is 70 per cent with ovarian cancer," said Carl.

"Listen to the whispers, know your body and the symptoms."

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