Team Jenna's Breast Cancer Battle

My sister, Jenna (Gadbois) Lyons, has been battling breast cancer, as many of you know. In April 2019, Jenna was diagnosed with Stage 1b breast cancer on her right side. Her children were 8, 6, and 2 at that time. In June 2019, she underwent a right-sided mastectomy and felt lucky that she did not need chemotherapy. Three months later, Jenna found a mistake in her medical records indicating that the doctors had overlooked something critical. The discovery led Jenna to receive 12 weeks of weekly chemo with an additional nine months every three weeks, finally ending her treatment on September 18, 2020.

Fast forward to 2021. Jenna started feeling pain in her hip and groin early in the year, but negative X-rays were reassuring for those areas and her clavicle. As time went on, the pain became more constant and in more places. More negative X-rays only caused her confusion. Finally, she saw an orthopedic doctor who ordered an MRI once she had trouble walking for a few months. The doctor did not expect to see anything because her range of motion was perfect, but she practically collapsed when the results came back.

Over the next few days, Jenna had multiple different scans to see as much of the metastases as possible. They performed a biopsy of her right hip bone to determine which of the two breast cancers had spread. In 2019, Jenna was diagnosed with two types of breast cancer, and these cancers are each treated differently, so this information will help create a treatment plan.

Currently, Jenna has a large area of tumors between her right hip and pelvis, which causes her a lot of pain and difficulty walking. There are tumors on her lumbar spine and her sacrum with a fractured sacrum (tailbone) due to cancer, tumors up to her thoracic spine, and in her sternum with a fractured clavicle (collarbone) as well.

Stage 4 breast cancer is incurable and is, essentially, terminal. However, with the proper treatment, nutrition, and focus on her overall health, Jenna could have years to spend raising her boys, who are now 10 (almost 11!) 8 and 5, if she can take care of herself exceptionally well. Raising these boys is what Jenna wants more than anything - to be HERE and to be a mother for her boys in these crucial years of their childhoods. It is what she has lived for and what she hopes to keep living for as long as possible.

Our entire family would like to thank everyone for their continued support and love during these difficult times.