LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Kelly Day said her life was as close to perfect as could be thanks to her family. But two and half years ago she was diagnosed with a type of epithelial cancer similar to ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is known as the “silent killer” because more than 85 percent of the cases are found in the advanced stages, when the cancer has already spread.

Doctors Robin Eisner and Srinu Reddy have been leading a team at UCLA in researching new methods of detecting cancer early and killing gynecologic cancer cells.

They found that when a naturally occurring protein called A1 is absent in the body, it indicates that these types of cancers are present. Furthermore, when A1 is given as a treatment, it can block the cancers, even types that are resistant to chemotherapy. The experiments so far have only been done in mice.

They believe this research has far reaching potential for many cancers and hope to go to human clinical trials in the future.

For Kelly Day, who is now cancer free, this research is so promising she set up The Women’s Endowment to help fund it. The hope is to someday save others from the harsh treatments she underwent to save her life.

She also cannot stop thinking about the twist of fate in all of this. Dr. Eisner, who treated her cancer, also delivered her new granddaughter. As she tells it, “He gave me two lives — mine and my granddaughter.”

For more information about The Women’s Endowment, email womensendowment@yahoo.com or call (818) 398-0768.

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