VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Just when Becky Kirby found love, she got the diagnosis. Kirby and her husband were returning from a one-year anniversary trip when she felt the pain in her abdomen that sent her to the emergency department. "[The doctor] told my husband when she came out, she said, 'she's definitely got cancer' … and this is a five-alarm fire," Kirby said. Kirby had ovarian cancer that had spread to her abdomen. She quickly began treatment, but learned that even if it worked, about 85% of the time, ovarian cancer will return within two years. "God sent us to Dr. Chau," Kirby said. Dr. Danielle Chau is one of fewer than 200 surgeons in the country performing hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, or HIPEC, a surgery that promises women like Kirby more time. Sentara Health recently hired two surgeons to start a HIPEC program at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. "What we found was that the women who received HIPEC at the time of surgery had an overall survival that was, on average, about a year longer than the women who didn't," Chau said. In the operating room, the surgical team removes as much of the cancer as possible. A chemotherapy drug is heated to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and then put into the patient's abdomen. The surgeon closes the abdomen, and then the team takes turns moving the abdomen around by hand. "We all take turns making sure that there is constant movement of that chemotherapy while it's in the abdomen," Chau said. They do this for about 90 minutes to make sure any microscopic cancer cells are killed. "I actually bounced back pretty well," Kirby said. "I was kind of surprised myself." She and her husband celebrated by checking a Caribbean catamaran trip off her bucket list — and it was amazing. "Oh, now I'm living life wide open," Kirby said. As with any surgery there are risks, and HIPEC is only for women with a certain type of Stage 3 ovarian cancer. It is also a long procedure, which lasts between six and nine hours. Kirby believes a few hours in the operating room are definitely worth another year. "So my focus is on my health and my family," she said, "and living life."