MARIE-CLAIRE McKelvey, AUTHOR & SOCIAL WORK STUDENT
Navigating disability, mental health, and identity
MARIE-CLAIRE’S STORY
About Marie-Claire
At 17, an NF2 brain tumour and progressive deafness rewrote my life. I spent years navigating undiagnosed bipolar disorder, an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) loss, and postpartum psychiatric crises.
Supported by my husband, I turned adversity into my battle cry: Mais quelle vie!
Today, as a Master of Social Work candidate, I am reclaiming my story as an “expert by experience.”
MARIE-CLAIRE’S STORY
The Explosion and the Echo
The explosion happened in the year 2000. I was a 17-year-old French-Canadian girl sitting in high school when my world began to tilt.
What started as a glitch during an English dictation class was actually Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2), a genetic condition that develops tumours on the nerves governing balance and hearing.
My skull became a theatre for complex neurosurgery, leaving me deaf in one ear and navigating severe depression and psychosis.
For the next thirteen years, I lived in the in-between. I built a “safe” career in the public service, adapted to total deafness, and white-knuckled my way through life. It wasn’t until 2013 that the underlying echo finally found its proper name: Bipolar Disorder.
MARIE-CLAIRE’S STORY
The Marriage Anchor & The Miracle
Through every chemical storm and medical reset, my husband has been my anchor. His English last name is McKelvey, which in French sounds exactly like Mais quelle vie! (But what a life!). With his help, I turned that phonetic joke into a battle cry for survival.
After a grueling, self-funded IVF battlefield and a deeply painful genetic loss, we welcomed our miracle daughter in 2023. The postpartum period brought a terrifying bout of lithium toxicity and an 18-month hypomanic flight, culminating in a two-month psychiatric hospitalization. But standing in the grime of that system, something powerful woke up inside me. I realized I wasn't just a patient to be managed—I was an expert the system desperately needed.
MARIE-CLAIRE’S STORY
The Reclamation
In September 2025, twenty years after I was first pushed out of the field because of my deafness, I walked back into university to reclaim my Master’s Degree in Social Work. Armed with a tablet, a voice-to-text app, and a silver record of survival in my hair, I am proving that a broken foundation can still build the most solid ground.
Maisquellevie
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Marie-Claire McKelvey
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Maisquellevie • Marie-Claire McKelvey •
ADVOCACY
A Digital Lighthouse
As a Master of Social Work candidate with 26 years of lived experience, I am committed to challenging institutional barriers and shifting perspectives from viewing individuals as “case files” to recognizing them as active partners in their own healing.
This digital lighthouse is a space for open dialogue, shared insight, and connection for those navigating hidden disabilities, mental health challenges, and rigid systems.