“Call These Women, They’re Great”: Survivor Annie Ellis And The Support Groups That Helped Her Through Cancer

Getting a cancer diagnosis comes with a lot of information. Your doctor may be telling you what they believe you have, how your disease can be treated, what you need to do to prepare, who you need to contact. It’s a lot of information to sift through all at once — and it can be really overwhelming. Annie Ellis, an ovarian cancer survivor, says she really, really benefitted from making use of cancer support groups.

“I was in my doctor’s office during first-line treatment and I started crying,” Annie says. “He left, he said, ‘Wait one moment.’ He came back in a few minutes and gave me a brochure of a peer support network called Share, and he said, ‘Call these women, they’re great’ … When you’re in a doctor’s office you may only get 10 or 15 minutes, it’s just not enough time. So, being able to talk to each other in a support group or one-on-one with a peer on the help-line, you get more time. What I’ve learned from other survivors is how to connect with trusted resources.”