The Happy Pod: The 'game changing' test for ovarian cancer
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A new blood test could dramatically improve survival rates for women with ovarian cancer by detecting it much sooner. The researchers tell us it's a game changer that could go on to save tens of thousands of lives around the world every year. Also: we meet the female Muslim jockey breaking new ground and inspiring the next generation. Khadijah Mellah has just made her amateur debut. Plus the woman who underwent a rare triple organ transplant talks about the joy of getting back to normal life; how a hand-cranked washing machine is saving thousands of people from hours of back breaking work; football's Homeless World Cup; and why a member of indie band Kasabian is opening a new music venue in a tiny Welsh town. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:09.1 | I'm Bernard Echio and in this edition, |
| 0:12.2 | We really have a bright light on the horizon. |
| 0:15.3 | We have a new test that could really be a game changer for women that are diagnosed with this disease. |
| 0:21.9 | To actually be involved in a research study that can help to diagnose people at a much earlier stage |
| 0:29.5 | where their chance of cure is greater, the chance that they will live and see their children grow up, |
| 0:35.5 | is absolutely fantastic. |
| 0:37.5 | A blood test that could dramatically improve survival rates for ovarian cancer. |
| 0:43.5 | Also, the female jockey breaking new ground. |
| 0:47.8 | The international football tournament helping homeless people turn their lives around. |
| 0:52.9 | And... |
| 0:53.7 | I had the realisation that I want to make a washing machine |
| 0:56.7 | that works for you, Vivya, |
| 0:58.8 | and I will bring this washing machine to you. |
| 1:01.4 | An invention inspired by a friendship |
| 1:03.9 | that's now helping thousands of people. |
| 1:19.0 | We start with a discovery that could help save the lives of tens of thousands of women around the world. |
| 1:24.8 | Every year, more than 300,000 are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, |
| 1:29.7 | and it's often not detected until it's in the later stages leading to low survival rates. But now researchers in the US and the UK have created a new blood test that |
| 1:36.5 | detected the disease in its early stages in around 90% of cases, allowing for earlier treatment |
| 1:43.0 | and potentially improving the chances of survival |
| 1:46.1 | dramatically. It works by looking at the types of proteins and lipids in the blood and teaching |
... |
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