Children's Sports Educator Battling Cancer
"Jenn is responsible for the happiness, safety, and high quality gymnastics education of thousands of children in our community and surrounding areas."
~Community Family Member
Hello Dream Centre Families and Community Members,
Most of you are unaware that Jennifer Siren, our wonderful Gymnastis Director and COO, is off on sick leave due to a very rare form of Cancer, Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. This is her second battle in less than 5
years.
Jennifer Siren has been with The Dream Centre since day 1 when we
opened our doors at 66 Innovation Drive in 2015. Jenn was hired on as the Head Coach for Waterdown's first and only Gymnastics program and was quickly promoted to Gymnastics Director due to her expertise, drive, level of organization and love of the sport. Jenn is responsible for the happiness, safety, and high quality gymnastics education of
thousands of children in our community and surrounding areas. She has poured her heart into making The Dream Centre a special place for her staff, teams, students and families.
Jenn is also responsible for co-creating and planning our incredible lineup of over 70 summer camps and classes. She created and organized
Waterdown's first and only gymnastics competitions where a number
of gymnastics teams from all over the Southern Ontario attended
The Dream Centre to compete.
She plans activities and staffing for Waterdown's most popular Annual Breakfast and Photos With Santa at The Dream Centre where
hundreds of community members attend each year and enjoy the
festivities, as well as, the activities and staffing for the Family Fun Zone at Waterdown's Oh Canada Ribfest.
She also creates, organizes and staffs our regular season's incredible
lineup of Recreational and Pre-Competitive Gymnastics classes.
Jenn has been undergoing radiation treatment, chemotherapy, and
other forms of experimental drugs for nearly a year. Some of the
radiation treatments have been successful in slowing down the growth of the larger tumors but, for the most part the cancer is spreading quite aggressively. Jenn's cancer is a very rare form and there isn't much in
the way of funding for it. She's looking to continue treatments in any
form whether that means here or somewhere else in the world, and
time is of the essence.
Please support Jennifer Siren through these trying times by donating to our "Go-Fund-Me."
You can also show Jenn your support by sending her a note as to how
she has positively impacted your life or the life of someone close to
you.
Here are a few mored details regarding Jenn's rare form of Cancer:
ACC (Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma) is a rare and unique form of cancer
that is known to be unpredictable in nature, with a typical growth
pattern of being slow and gradual, but over time can be progressive,
insidious and relentless. There are some general tendencies, such as the propensity for it to spread into surrounding nerve tissue or
metastasize to other areas of the body, yet each patient can experience their own diverse patterns and issues. ACC occurs most commonly in
the oral cavity with 58% of the primary tumors beginning in that area,
but it can actually occur in as many as 38 different organs in the body. It is commonly considered to be a salivary gland tumor and grouped with other oral cancers in statistical studies since it occurs predominantly in that area.
Of the approximate 566,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed each year
in the US, only about 1228 of them are ACC...This is also why
historically there has been very little funding provided for ACC
research by the government, drug companies and large nonprofit
cancer organizations...patients have tried a large variety of chemo or
targeted drug treatments by themselves or as part of clinical trials, but no single chemo or drug combination has shown itself to be effective
for more than a few patients.
http://www.accoi.org/faq/what-acc/
