Elly Mayday, model, is teaming up with Adam Lawrence, filmmaker, to spread awareness and support for those affected by ovarian cancer.
Elly was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer just as her career was hitting full swing.
She underwent a full hysterectomy, three months of chemotherapy, and a total debunking.
Elly uses her experience to advocate for the illness and shares her scars publicly in her photo shoots, challenging social perceptions of beauty. She has become quite the role model for young girls. Although her diagnosis brought many challenges (including the fact that Elly is now unable to have children), her future is otherwise looking bright and her career has continued with vigor.
Adam’s mother also suffered from this rare form of cancer; unfortunately, she was not as lucky as Elly. She passed away just this November.
Adam reflects on how positive she stayed throughout treatment. One of his favorite memories was when his mom brought chocolates to her chemotherapy nurses. Her goal always seemed to, first and foremost, make sure those around her were happy and comfortable, which is something else she and Elly had in common—an incessant positivity and cheerful outlook on life.
Through film, Adam hopes to share this side of their stories—the inspiring parts.
While it’s important to portray the disease accurately, which is by no means glamorous, Adam’s team also hopes his work will start a conversation about the ongoing strength and bravery that all ovarian cancer patients possess.
Fittingly, the film will be called “Hope” and be produced by Beast of the East Productions, which Adam co-founded.
It’s certainly refreshing to see a rare disease covered by mainstream media, and we hope it will have a positive effect for the entire rare disease community. If you’d like, you can donate to the production through Adam’s gofundme and keep your eye out for its debut!
Read more about the upcoming film and how you can contribute here!
