Jenny is a wonderful ambassador for Wessex Cancer Support. She shares very personal elements of her life to show how tough living with cancer can be, and the difference our support makes. She’s also raised £12,000 to support others affected by cancer, through a sponsored silence, taking part in our PierZip challenge and hosting coffee mornings.
Just before Christmas 2023, eight weeks after being given the all-clear from breast cancer, Jenny was told that her cancer had returned and spread to her lung. She has a particularly aggressive type of cancer that’s hard to treat and was told she’d need a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and immunotherapy. She’ll remain on treatment for life.
“I absolutely love Christmas,” Jenny says, “but the prospect of celebrating that year was awful. It was so hard to get my head around the fact I’d been given a terminal diagnosis. One minute I was desperate to hide away and the next I wanted to shout, ‘You’ve got this wrong; I’m going to live forever.’ I went with my two daughters to stay with my Mum in Plymouth and we kept in our bubble. It was a very different Christmas to the ones we’d normally have, with parties and presents, but we got through it together and it made us all realise what’s important.
“This year has been a whirlwind of surgery and treatment. I’d called on Wessex Cancer Support’s Bournemouth centre when I was first diagnosed in 2002 and this year, after I found out my cancer had returned, I reached out to them again. I’ve had Reiki, reflexology and counselling, which has been invaluable during a very tough time. They truly understand the difficulties that come with a cancer diagnosis and have given me a safe space to just be me. I don’t know where I’d be without them and it’s comforting to know that whatever the future holds, they’re by my side.”
Jenny’s put together a list of 20 thoughtful gift ideas to help someone affected by cancer feel supported and comfortable this Christmas. You can read it here.
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