Warrior Jenny R.

It never ceases to amaze me how God can take a Breast cancer diagnosis and use it to help us find a higher calling to our lives. For me, it was about discovering that God’s love for me ran way deeper than I had ever known before. And once Cancer became part of my testimony, I knew that I wanted to dedicate the rest of my days to helping others know that love the way I do now. Today’s warrior story is from Jenny in Mississippi. I was introduced to her by a mutual friend who attended the same PT school as my husband and me and who is actually using her Therapy career to provide supportive care specifically to Breast cancer patients {might just be my dream job}. One day I hope you will hear more from Lizzy about what she does but for today I introduce you to one of her college friends who has agreed to share her story with Pinked….

Jenny and her husband

It was Mother’s Day this past May, and I had just returned home from a trip to New York with my mom and sister. I was excited to arrive back in Natchez that afternoon to be with my amazing husband of 11 years and our 3 sons, Nolan (8), William (6), and Miles (4). I was exhausted from an early morning flight and was looking forward to a long shower after enjoying lunch with my family. After unpacking and settling back in, I was so tired. At the end of a long shower, I found a lump on my left breast. Alarmed and very concerned, I immediately told my husband and we called my doctor. She was able to squeeze me in the very next day and scheduled me for my first mammogram the following day. The mammogram was very painful. Intuitively I knew something was wrong, but was giving it to God to calm my worried heart. As the ultrasound tech began examining me, tears began to flow from my eyes. It was obvious at that point my lump was not a cyst and was going to need further testing. We immediately met with the Radiologist and reviewed what they believed to be “very suspicious” calcifications all over my left breast, in addition to a relatively large mass they found. That Wednesday I went in for a biopsy and by Friday it was confirmed that I had breast cancer.

It was May 15^th, the same day as my middle son was graduating from Kindergarten. I remember praying so hard that day for the results to be benign. I wanted this lump to be an easy fix. However, the biopsy determined that I had an aggressive form of High-grade Comedo Type III Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. The doctors believed that the cancer was contained within my milk ducts and that a prompt mastectomy would need to be performed as soon as possible. I did not want to tell our boys that day. It was William’s graduation day and I wanted the day to be about him and all things good. So I held it together and fought back the tears and we ended up telling the boys that Sunday before church. It was a day I’ll never forget.

Jenny and her beautiful family on the day of her middle son’s kindergarten graduation

After much prayer and research, we decided to proceed with a bi-lateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction surgery with Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Ordoyne at the Breast Cancer Surgery Center in New Orleans. As life changing as we knew this was going to be, I remained faithful that God had provided this route and these physicians to perform my surgery. I proceeded with surgery on May 26^th and opted for reconstruction from a DIEP flap, since I was not a strong candidate for implants. I made it through the 8 hour operation and did not have any complications. I woke up and felt relieved that my cancer was gone and that no matter how challenging the healing process ahead was going to be, God was with me and He was going to meet me right where I was and carry me though.

Jenny with one of her dear friends, Carrie after her Bilateral Mastectomy with Reconstruction via DIEP flap

1 week post-surgery, I had a follow-up to have 2 of the 4 surgical drains removed and to go over the results from my second biopsy with my doctors. It was a moment when you’re smiling and thankful everything is going so well, but you sense something is not right. I could feel my joy suddenly starting to dissipate when the doctors told us the biopsy did not come back the way they had hoped. The cancer had spread from my milk ducts to surrounding tissue, becoming invasive DCIS and had traveled to one of my lymph nodes, leaving a 1.5mm mass. Even though they had removed this swollen lymph node during surgery with my sentinel node, my diagnosis had changed. My treatment plan had changed. At that moment with tears steadily flowing from my eyes and my husband’s eyes, I knew my life was about to drastically change. For the first time in my 35 years on this earth, I knew I needed God in a bigger and deeper way than I ever had before. I was afraid. I was scared of losing my hair in chemotherapy. I was nervous that the cancer had spread somewhere else in my body. I was at a loss for what we were going to tell our 3 young boys. I was at a pivotal moment where I knew above all else, God was in complete control. I knew with all of my heart that day and with all of the tears I cried, that God had a special plan for me through this. I wasn’t sure how the journey ahead was going to change me, but I knew inside I could do this with a strength and grace He alone could only provide.

My first chemotherapy appointment was on June 22^nd. Exactly 14 days later my hair started thinning, and on June 9^th, my husband buzzed off all of my long brown hair, with my 3 boys right by my side in our bathroom. I had cried hard several times prior to that day about losing my hair. That night however, I didn’t shed one tear. I was beyond the physical appearance at this point and I was in a survival mode, ready to conquer these 6 months of chemo and return to a normal life. Just 3 days after that I was admitted to the hospital with a high fever and chills. I had gotten a staph infection in my body that traveled to my chemo port and I had become septic. I laid in that hospital bed everyday for a week. I felt battered, bruised from the numerous amounts of blood they kept taking from me, and weaker than I had ever felt before. I was pale and thin and completely bald. For the first time in my life I thought…what if this is it? I was so weary and so weak…it was hard to even look in the mirror. My life had changed so quickly and everything seemed secondary to getting well. I prayed day and night, hour after hour, humbly I laid there and knew “this too would pass”. My eyes were fixed and I knew God was right there holding my hand when I felt so alone. They had to operate on me to remove my chemo port as soon as the blood cultures revealed that the bacteria had spread to the port site. I was home and fever free a few days later and was placed on IV antibiotics for 2 weeks. I had never been so thankful to be home and so relieved that I was on the path to recovery.

Jenny and a few of her girlfriends at a Breast Cancer walk in her hometown

I continued to have a few more setbacks, but was finally able to finish my 4^th cycle of the A/C chemotherapy regimen in late September. I’m not finished yet! I’m in the middle of completing 12 weekly chemo treatments that should end in late December of this year. I will continue to have the Herceptin drug for 1 year to treat my HER2 + gene mutation, and I will also have 6 weeks of radiation early next year.

Through my journey these past few months, I have really found purpose and my identity in Christ. Before being diagnosed with breast cancer, I was very advanced in my yoga practice and was contemplating becoming certified to teach yoga. In a quiet moment during a chemo infusion earlier this month, the Lord clearly spoke to me and opened my eyes about what He was calling me to do through all of this – which is to bring Him glory through yoga. In my daily practice of yoga I have completed many yoga challenges through Instagram and have been fond of Holy Yoga Ministries for some time. Under my Instagram page @jen_yogigirl, you can see how I have linked scripture to my yoga postures and challenges, and set my videos to Christian music. Through this type of yoga, I have been able to and will continue to grow spiritually and physically by celebrating God through my practice. I am currently registered to begin my Holy Yoga 225 certification this January and will finish up the first week in May before I can start teaching classes. I am so excited about what God is going to do for me in this next season of my life and I am so thankful to Him for bringing it all full circle.