Dr. Annette Bennington Mcelhiney

Althea Re-balances Her Life: "The Emotional Challenges One Survivor Faces After Chemo for Ovarian Cancer" Dr. Annette Bennington Mcelhiney

This short colorful booklet illustrates the "roller coaster life" cancer survivors are on after completing chemo. On one side they are happy to be alive and finished with chemo therapy and on the other side they are terrified the cancer will return. As a professional woman, a wife and a friend, Annette (diagnosed with Stage IIIC ovarian cancer in 2008) feels compelled to suppress her disappointments, anger, envy, and depression with her diagnosis. Consequently, she creates a "double" of herself named Althea (meaning healer in Greek) who rages, tells off people who patronize her and who often acts like the "uppity teal (the ovarian cancer color) broad" that she is. Her feelings are often illustrated through the paintings of Althea in various predicaments. In the process, Annette reveals that it is "ok" to be angry but one also needs to see oneself in an objective way. She hopes to unveil the feelings of cancer survivors and to help them cope. McElhineys paintings are available online by googling Annette McElhiney at Fine Arts of America. All royalties go to ovarian cancer research.