After losing his wife to ovarian cancer, this Henrico father raises money to fund research into early detection

R.J. Gilson thinks about his wife every day.

Angie Gilson died on Sept. 15, 2024, after a nearly two-year battle with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.

She was 55.

Now, R.J. is channeling his grief into action — raising money for a nonprofit devoted to funding research into the prevention and early detection of ovarian cancer.

R.J. and Angie met at a party in 1987 with classmates from Douglas Freeman High School.

The couple had two children and settled in the Tuckahoe area of Henrico County, where they built a full and happy life guided by Angie's version of her favorite Bible verse: What a beautiful day the Lord has made — let us rejoice in it.

With both children away at college, Angie returned to work full time. But she soon began feeling discomfort in her abdominal region. For eight months, doctors could not determine the cause of her pain or why she had become breathless during her runs. Then her abdomen began to swell.

"It was really the ascites fluid that was building up that created the most pronounced symptoms: the swelling in the abdomen, and then, and later on, collapsing part of her lung," R.J. said.

A doctor ordered a CT scan, and in September 2022, Angie was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.

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