Published on March 20, 2014

ST. JOHN'S (TC Media) One of the first things Alice Gibbons did before starting chemotherapy in October was go see a hairdresser.

TC Media photo

Alice Gibbons ponders her battle with ovarian cancer during an interview in her St. Johns, N.L. apartment the day after receiving her last chemo treatment.

Diagnosed last summer with ovarian cancer, the 48-year-old said she wasnt waiting for the treatment to take her hair.

It didnt bother me, Gibbons said of having her head shaved.

I was told it hurts more if you lose it during treatments, so I went to the salon the owner is a breast cancer survivor and they took me to a special room and cut my hair short and then shaved it, she said, rubbing her hand over her porcelain-textured scalp.

During a recent interview about her experience fighting cancer the chemotherapy as well as the health care she received Gibbons is upbeat and bubbly as she talks about her eyelashes falling out, the needles and the pain.

The whole ordeal, she said, has left her with a profound sense of faith.

I was never a spiritual person, but since all of this I have developed a level of acceptance and spirituality that I never had before. I think that is what got me through it, she said, sipping a cup of orange juice as one of her three small cats snakes around her legs.

More:

N.L. woman says family, spirituality helped her cope with ovarian cancer