Annette Bennington McElhiney Ph D

Realizing my Post Cancer Self Annette Bennington McElhiney Ph D

In 2008, at age 67, Annette was diagnosed with IIIC high grade ovarian cancer, incompletely debulked, treated with 18 months of chemotherapy, and given a 25-35 percent chance of living 5 years. Initially, stunned and depressed, she became silent. Then to dig herself out of the dark hole, she picked up her paint brushes and created a sassy double Altheaannette as a central character in 18 full color original paintings illustrating the bumps in recovery. Althea enables Annette to reach remission and to outlive her expiration date. The final section discusses the strides made in ovarian cancer treatment from 2008-2016. As a result Annette has become an ovarian cancer advocate who donates her royalties for this Memoir to ovarian cancer research. She welcomes interaction with her readers at her website: altheaannettedesigns.com where readers can also view other material, read her blog, and view research on ovarian cancer.