Jen's Cancer Throwdown

Our fab friend and awesome coworker, Jen has been fighting cervical cancer since June 2021. She’s been through some truly hellish radiation treatments, chemo, procedures, etc. and now has to have surgery. She was hoping for an “All Clear!” at her most recent PET scan. However, it appeared that the cancer has barely budged, which was super devastating news after fighting so hard to destroy it the past couple of months. The positive side here is that the Oncologist thinks that the cancer HAS shrunk as the PET scan can’t differentiate well between inflammation and tumor. While remaining cautiously optimistic we are all hoping that the tumor is in fact gone and that the only thing that remains is some (painful) inflammation. She is having yet another surgery at the end of February to further explore this.

Jen is a Special Education Teacher and an amazing Intensive Learning Support Teacher in our middle school. Jen loves her students and has come to work on days that many of us wouldn’t have even thought about going, because she missed her students just as much as they missed her.

Jen’s intensive radiation and chemotherapy treatment has resulted in her missing a lot of work due to appointments, treatment, and recovery. Her IV chemotherapy was 1 day per week for 6 hours, which could only be scheduled during business hours. This meant that Jen missed at least 1 day of work per week for her chemo and often had residual effects the following day which sometimes resulted in her missing 2 days of work that week. In addition to her chemotherapy and external radiation she had an intensive internal chemotherapy treatment which resulted in her missing many weeks of work as a result of the intense treatment and toll it took on her body.

Fortunately, her bosses and district are fantastic and understanding so her job is not at risk.

Unfortunately, her paychecks are not as fantastic. Jen does not have paid leave as she blew through that when she fell and needed major surgery on her foot (which she still has metal rods to show for that). This means that she is receiving approximately $1000 less per month as she battles cervical cancer.

So basically, we are trying to help Jen in her time of need, just like she would help us. We want to help lessen her financial burden, so that she can focus on her treatment and kicking cancer’s a**.

We all know medical expenses and healthcare bills are not cheap to begin with, so with missing work, medical expenses, traveling for treatment (Johns Hopkins) and maintaining specific dietary restrictions we just want to help Jen get through this without the stress of financial devastation.

Any amount you can give is helpful and appreciated!!!

We understand if you can’t give, but she always appreciates some positive thoughts, love, and sharing of this page!