Jess & family have a Merry Christmas while battling cancer

Dear friends, family, and kind-hearted strangers,

We are reaching out to you today to share the story of our amazing and inspirational work colleague, Jess.

Jess was 28yrs old when she and her partner Karl found out they were expecting their much longed for first child. At the time Jess was working full time and although her pregnancy was progressing normally, she bitterly complained about a pain in her left arm. She visited her GP and spoke to her Midwife. She was told that it was either muscular or nerve pain relating to her pregnancy and was offered physiotherapy.

July 2022

On Friday 8th of July 2022, we wished Jess all the very best as she left to go on maternity leave and three days later on Monday 11th July 2022 baby Theo arrived! Jess and Karl had not long purchased their first house together and with their new baby their world was complete.

After the birth, Jess had hoped the awful pain in her arm would subside but pain the remained. Theo was 5 weeks old when Jess was fixing his car seat into the car and she felt a searing pain in her arm, leaving her in agony. The pain was so unbearable that she called 111, paramedics arrived and prescribed some strong pain relief for what they thought was probably a pulled muscle. Still the pain continued. Eventually Jess went back to her GP and insisted on a Xray the results of which has turned her life upside down.

August 2022

The Xray revealed a 13cm tumour growing on the bone in her left arm. The bone had buckled and broken under the pressure of the tumour. By the time they found it, it was covering almost the entirety of her humerus bone. A subsequent biopsy revealed she had osteosarcoma, a form of primary bone cancer.

Jess was devastated, we were all devastated.

September 2022

Her medical team wanted to operate immediately and within a week Jess was preparing for surgery to have the bone removed and a metal rod and ball joint inserted to replace it. On the day of surgery, she was told more devastating news, that depending on how the surgery went they may have to amputate her arm. Jess went down to surgery on a Friday and the surgery albeit lengthy went well. Jess' surgeons were happy with how the surgery went and they were able to save her arm.

She was sent home with stitches from her shoulder to her elbow and her arm strapped tightly to her side. The operation had been a success but she still had to have chemotherapy.

October & November 2022

Jess started an intensive course of chemotherapy. Each round was 5 weeks long, 3 of those weeks required her to be in hospital Monday to Friday.

Jess’ wedding was booked for Saturday 15th October 2022 but sadly she was too ill to attend instead having a prolonged stay in hospital battling neutropenic sepsis.

Her wedding was cancelled on the day and has yet to be rebooked.

December 2022

Jess’ chemotherapy regime was brutal, she had 4 rounds (20 weeks) of intense chemotherapy treatment which left her battling a whole-body reaction to infection, for around four months. A real low point was Christmas 2022, she was still battling infection after infection but was hopeful to be discharged in time to spend Christmas day with Theo and her family. Unfortunately, Jess experienced a blood clot in her lung and spent the whole Christmas period, Theo’s very first Christmas confined in hospital without any visitors to reduce infection risk to her.

January & February 2023

Jess came home in January and had her much-awaited Christmas day albeit a month late! In February 2023 Jess was told by her oncology team that they were ending her chemotherapy early due to the concern that another round would end her life. The brutal chemotherapy regime was taking its toll on her body, affecting her heart and kidney function.

March & April 2023

Jess started to get stronger. Her hair started sprouting and her left arm although still suffering from nerve damage started to heal.

May 2023

Jess was being monitored closely and a routine scan found another tumour in the same arm – a reoccurrence of osteosarcoma.

As Jess was being prepared for surgery to remove the tumour another scan revealed at least three other tumours were growing in the area. Her surgery was cancelled and her consultant delivered yet more devastating news saying ‘the only way we’re going to save your life is to amputate your arm”.

Days later Jess’ left arm was removed from the shoulder.

May 2023 – July 2024

Jess threw herself into being a mum with one arm. She never complained even though she suffered terribly with phantom limb pain; she researched aids and with a few home adaptions Jess was independent again and she could at last enjoy the last few months of her maternity leave.

Jess continued to get stronger and by the end of 2023 she started a carefully planned transition back to work. Jess no longer wanted full time work instead opting for part time work so she could spend time catching up on the time she’d missed with Theo when he was a baby.

Jess was still having regular 3 monthly check-ups. There were 2 rogue nodules in her left lung that had been there from the beginning that were being closely monitored.

A new nodule in her left lung started to grow and so another operation was scheduled for July 2024 to remove a wedge shape portion of her lung, through fear her cancer had come back.

Despite this being a significant operation, Jess bounced back and on 14th September 2024 Jess completed the 25 km Thames Bridges Trek in 6.5hrs!

Throughout her journey, Jess has been truly inspirational and her positivity was recognised by Bone Cancer Research and she was asked to be the face of there Bone Cancer Awareness Week campaign to raise awareness of bone cancer.

On 27th September 2024, Jess was looking forward to attending the Bone Cancer Research Trust weekend conference in Leeds. A routine appointment had come through for the same day and she decided that as the hospital was on the way she would attend the appointment on route.

It was yet more devastating news. The cancer was back, this time in her amputated left shoulder. The tumour was already 2cms in length and more nodules had shown up in her right lung. Jess felt the atmosphere at this appointment was different to normal, more sombre and treatment hinged on the outcome of a PET scan. If the cancer was contained to the shoulder and lung they would operate and consider further chemotherapy but if the cancer was anywhere else they would only be able to offer chemotherapy.

October 2024

After a long wait for a PET scan, the results confirmed the worst, a new tumour was growing in the shoulder and 2 nodules were growing in her right lung. Needing to face more surgery Jess was booked for her 5th surgery to remove the tumour, part of her scapula and nearby muscle on 1st November 2024.

Jess now faces another surgery, this time on her right lung to remove the growing nodules.

Recent pathology results confirmed the tumour that was removed was another cancerous one, stemming from her original Osteosarcoma but this time a type originating from the muscle.

Jess and Karl are facing another period of financial pressure, we would like to raise money for them both so that the financial burden can be one less thing for them to worry about.

There is a loss of income while Jess faces yet more surgery and recovery, but also would like for the family to have a Christmas with one less stress to worry about. Perhaps we can even raise enough to be able to make their long awaited wedding happen!

Jess is not just our work colleague, she is a very special person; she is also a mum, fiancé, daughter, sister, niece and friend to so many people.

Help us to help Theo’s mum, Jess xxx