Jenn's Journey with MBC

02/26/2026

Welcome to my cancer cubby! lol. I prefer this style to the ‘fish bowl’ where everyone can hear everything and your obligated to have a conversation, even when your drugged and just want silence.

I wonder what other centers look like. Especially the lather ones like MSK, Moffitt etc. UVA is a lot like this. At least at the breast care center, but smaller scale since they just do breast care/chemo.

02/25/2026

Somedays I don’t have anything positive to post (and that’s ok). Today, at 0145, I don’t have much positive to say. I woke up today. But that’s about it. I haven’t felt well for a couple weeks. Not sick, just not well. My exhaustion is exhausted. My nervous system has been stuck in fight or flight for years and i think it caught up to me. So in a couple hours, i’ll make an extra trip to the cancer center to see the NP and get some meds, labs and fluids.

Switching gears: I don’t participate in toxic positivity here. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows and unicorn farts 🦄 ✨.

Cancer has taken so much from me. My job. My appearance. Multiple friendships (cancer ghosting). My marriage. My finances. I haven’t talked much about it on here bc.. well, idk why. Someone told me years ago, you can’t save your face and your butt at the same time. So pick one. And I guess I’ve not wanted the messy part of my life to be seen. But I’m truly tired of suffering and hiding in these 4 walls. Im tired of being told to minimize my pain. I’m tired of pretending that everything is ok. I’m tired of making excuses for someone who doesn’t deserve it. I’m tired of trying to see the good in people when they don’t have good in them. I’m also really tired of trying to find ME in other people. I will and have and probably would again, move mountains and take down giants for people in my life who (quite literally) choose to actively be mean and cruel to me. But trust, you’ll never see it unless you’re in these 4 walls. If you are one of those people who validate or enable abuse, whether it be mental, spiritual, emotional, financial or physical- THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU.

So if you’re reading this and you think “damn, Jenn is really going through it”. Yes. Yes, I am. The hits keep coming and I am doing my best to keep up. But I’m having a hard time bc there’s never a break here. Just today I got a 10k bill from centra for my treatments. And in the morning they’ll ask me how I’d like to pay it? How bout a kidney? 🤣

Anyway- idk if anyone will even read this. But if you do, please send some love & light out for me. Say a prayer. Plant a money tree in my yard. 🌳 Drop a thought or comment or even a funny meme that might make me laugh. We could all use more laughs these days.

02/17/2026

Some of the most popular questions I get are about my kids so I figured I'd do a little 'about my kids'.

This pic is before my dx in 2021. While my kids all have social media, I try not to post too much of their info since this page is public and people can be weird.

How old are they now?
18, almost 17 and almost 14.

How did you tell your kids you had cancer?
For them, direct honesty with real world explanation works best. I have a background in healthcare and my kids are no stranger to that field. They grew up around the FD/EMS stations and have learned a lot from it. I sat each one down individually and told them alone first. Then we all sat together and talked. Even with real world explanations, and honesty, the Momma bear in me wanted to shelter them. Frankly, I wanted to lie and skip the whole conversation. My son asked me bluntly "are you going to die". It was like the breath was sucked out of my lungs. It was like, well dang, now it's real. My youngest said "why you Momma. I don't want cancer to take you away. I want you to be here when I get to go to the dance, and pick out my dress". Whew... we skipped ahead light years but that's where her mind went so we talked about it. My oldest "so I'll need to take care of my sibs if anything happens to you? Will it be like the movies where your really, really sick"?

How are the kids now? Depends on the day, I think. Since I don't look sick anymore, it's easy to pretend I'm not sick and all is well. Counseling is wonderful and I would highly recommend it for anyone, cancer or not. My older two have been with me to treatment. They DID NOT go and I would not have exposed them to it when I was really sick. Plus at that time, they weren't old enough and it was covid era but now that I'm on maintenance and they can drive, they'll take me when they can. I think the fear is still there but we try not to live in fear.

What have you done to prepare them for when you're gone?
This has been the hardest one for me. As I've mentioned before, I wasn't given the best outlook in 2021 so I was heavy on the preparing for life without me. I bought each kid a blank cookbook and have written their favorite recipes down. They each have a wooden picture frame with cardinals on it. On the back, it's engraved with a saying from me. Each kid has a journal from me to them. It's got random memories that are my favorite. It's got some things about me from over the years that they might not know. It's got some things about the future and how to navigate when I'm not there. There's a couple special things for when they hit big milestones. Prom and graduation were HUGE for me. I am so thankful I've been able to see the oldest through those. There's a box of 'what to do if' cards that I need to work on. For example 'what to do if your missing Mom or what to do if you get dumped and need a pint of ice cream to cheer you up'. Things I may not be here for but want to make sure they know I'm never far away.

Even if you don't have cancer, it's important to have the hard conversations. I never want my family to be left to guess what I want when that time comes. It's going to be stressful enough so I've pre-planned as much as I could.

Lastly, if you know me in person, you know I have a wicked sense of dark humor. When talking to the kids about where I want my ashes to rest- one option is a porch goose. You know, the one your grandma might have had on her porch that has outfits for each season? Or... a glass orb of some sort that glows but I want them to stick googly eyes on it so I can watch them. 🤣🤣🤣

02/17/2026

Nominations are open!! If you know someone who has MBC, you should nominate them! This is hands down, one of the best trips I’ve ever been on!

🩵💚🩷 We are a month into nominations for 2026! 🩵💚🩷

Do you or someone you know have MBC? Then we want you!

Visit our nomination page and nominate yourself or someone else! Please share!

https://www.lesliesweek.org/nominationform

02/12/2026

Finally! I’ve been wanting to go to Moffitt for one of their trials for 4 years and I’ve finally got an appointment scheduled!

Tampa would be a heck of a move, but one I would make yesterday if I had the support and finances. We’ll see what happens!

More details to come!

02/07/2026

There are certain dates that, for better or worse, are burned into my brain. Family & close friends birthdays, a close friend’s death and this stupid day.
Diagnosis day as I now know it.
February 7, 2021.
FIVE years today. 5️⃣

Just a day or two before diagnosis, I had a mammogram and ultrasound. I was called back to do a biopsy (actually they did 12) the next morning. If you know anything about healthcare, you know things don’t move that fast so I automatically knew it was bad.

The radiologist that did my biopsies asked me if I had somebody I could call. Well s**t, how bad is this?
I called Meredith Dean because she’s my person. She got to hear the whole conversation and the one thing that sticks out is the radiologist saying “it’s aggressive and it doesn’t look good, it looks metastatic in multiple lymph nodes”. I later learned Meredith muted herself so i wouldn’t hear her crying. 😭

I remember asking if I could go back to work and if I was gonna be okay. She told me treatment would be “swift and aggressive and would leave me feeling rotten and probably very deconditioned”. She wasn’t lying! Not to mention this was Covid times and I worked in the hospital. I called my boss at the time and told her what was going on. She was one of the only people who knew I was being tested for MS. Turns out it wasn’t MS, it was stage iv cancer and a little brain tumor. I told her I had my team picked out and she was able to make the connection with the general surgeon I wanted because he was also the trauma surgeon for the trauma program I worked for and came highly recommended.

As you can see from the pictures, I had what they called multiple interconnected spiculated masses. I have two different subtypes types of cancer. I’ve mentioned before my main cancer is triple positive, super aggressive, but also has the most treatment options. One of the other masses was estrogen positive, progesterone and HER2 negative. (I think that’s right as I’ve also mentioned my memory is fuzzy. I would have to pull up my pathology results to be completely sure but I think that that’s right). Either way we choose to treat the triple positive first and see what the outcome was.

As I was leaving the parking lot, I called Lesley. And I remember her saying “what’s the plan? we’re gonna get through this. It’s gonna be ok Jenn”. I didn’t believe her at the time and sometimes I still don’t, but she still tells me the same thing. “God’s got you, he’s got a plan and it’s all gonna be ok”. Lesley is a two time cancer survivor herself. So if anybody can put me in my place in a loving, caring way it’s her!

It was about a 30 minute drive home and I sobbed most of the way home. My kids had just gotten off the bus so I knew I had to suck it up and walk in unphased. I made arrangements for them to spend the night somewhere else so I could tell my parents. News like that was not something I wanted to deliver over the phone. I think my parents knew something was up when I called them at 8 PM and told them to turn the porch light on.

Five years is a big deal. Because my cancer was so aggressive and in multiple different places, I wasn’t giving the best outlook.

I’m grateful to still be here. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve met some wonderful people! I have people in my corner that love me, despite all of the problems. The anxiety, PTSD, the chronic pain, the days where I don’t wanna leave my house because I am just overwhelmed with life. I have people that check on me despite me not checking on them. I have people that have blessed me financially in ways that I will never be able to repay or express how truly grateful I am. I have kids that, for the most part have not complained about all of the things we’ve lost or the things that we’re not able to do anymore. They are people that have stepped up and helped my kids when I couldn’t. Thank you will never be enough.

But it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t didn’t say that Cancer has been, for lack of a better term, a complete and utter s**t show. It robbed me of my bachelors degree, of a full-time job and income. I’m in a body that I no longer recognize. It robbed me of relationships. Cancer ghosting is a thing! It’s bankrupted my family. It’s caused trauma for my kids and me. It threw Patrick and I in the lowest place I think we had ever been for too long and ultimately caused that relationship to be severed (it wasn’t just Cancer, but Cancer definitely didn’t help).

That’s enough for me for now.
I kind of feel like I should celebrate today. But also feel like staying in bed because it’s not like a day I want to celebrate.

Any suggestions on how I should celebrate tho? Because as much as I don’t wanna get out of bed, and I’m a little ashamed to admit I’m still in bed at 10:30am, here I am letting cancer win just a little bit before I get up and kick the rest of the days butt, gently. 🩷 🩵 💚

02/07/2026

I had to get iron today. I’m iron deficient anemic and oral iron wasn’t cutting it.
I have reactions to so many meds and I definitely have PTSD. I’ve pumped so many toxic things into my body in the last five years, I just did not want to do the iron. I was supposed to do it a month ago. I went and left! Sat in the chair, told the RN and NP I was terrified & I wasn’t doing it and left. With my background in healthcare, I can tell you I was wholeheartedly ashamed of myself. But it is what it is! 🤦🏻‍♀️

My support person wasn’t feeling very supporty today and I spend most of the time trying not to have a panic attack. i was already anxious & just felt totaly alone. Thank goodness for amazing nurses. ♥️

Anybody else had IV iron?

02/03/2026

Hey y'all. Since I'm trying to grow my page, I figured I'd do a little about me.

I was minding my own business in 2021 when I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. I was 39 at the time and would turn 40 two days after my first chemo. I did Taxotere, Herceptin and Perjeta (stopped after 3 cycles). I think I was supposed to do 6 or 7 rounds but since it almost unalived me, my oncologist stopped after 5 or 6. I wish I could remember the exact number but without looking at pics, I can't. That's the wonderful thing about cancer, chemo, menopause and all the meds... it's massively affected my memory. I can tell you about prom in 1999. Including who did my hair, who I went with, where we had dinner etc. But I can't remember a lot of details from much of anything in the last 5 years.

My cancer subtype is triple positive. Meaning it's estrogen, progesterone and HER2 positive. The cancer had spread from my breast to multiple lymph nodes, my lungs and multiple bones.

I went for a 2nd opinion at the Cancer Center of America in Philly. They closed a week after I was there so local treatment was where I started.

My kids were 8, 11 and 13 at time of diagnosis. They are 13, 16 and 18 now.

As of right now I'm NEAD. No evidence of active disease. There have been lots of scares and extra scans but so far, nothing that needed new treatment. There's no remission with stage IV since it's spread to distant locations. NEAD/NED is the closest we can get to that with stage IV.

Anything you'd like to know about me or my journey? I've been a pretty open book and I like telling my story bc it's happening to more and more young women. I've met so many women along this path. I'm still one of the youngest at my cancer center with MBC, if not the youngest bc I haven't met anyone else my age who wasn't early stage but I'm sure there out there.. just haven't met them yet.

Pic of me and the little human in December and a caricature that chatGPT came up with of my job before "retirement". I miss those eyebrows! lol

01/20/2026

01/15/2026

Welcome to 2026! I started the year off with treatment. It's a necessary evil at this point. I'm super thankful I'm still NEAD (no evidence of disease) and can get the same treatment I've been getting for the past, almost FIVE years. I've had several terrifying scares when things light up on scans but then they settle down or disappear and I keep going.

When I was diagnosed, no one thought I'd be here in 5 years. My local team said 1-3 years and my UVA team was even less optimistic. For those that are new, I have triple positive cancer, usually I'll write it +++ just bc I'm lazy so if you see that, that's what it means. Progesterone, Estrogen and HER2 (these are subtypes). Easier to treat than triple negative or inflammatory but also very, very aggressive. I had 3 spiculated, interconnected tumors in my left breast. Two different subtypes. One was the +++, and the other was +--. My oncologist said I was "special". I think she meant I was a pain in the butt, but same, same. 😆

When the cancer was found it was in my lymph nodes, bones, lungs and they found Fred too. Fred is my little brain buddy. 🧠 I just had an MRI last month and it's grown a little, but not enough to treat.

Coming up on five years is terrifying and exciting but mostly terrifying. It seems too good to be true. Cancer has really wreaked havoc on my life and I've got a whole ton of new diagnosis and chronic conditions that have to be monitored or treated. I think the one thing I miss from my pre-cancer life is not having anxiety. Boy, did I take that for granted. I went my whole life and never had a panic attack, until I was 39. Once they started, they haven't stopped. On the plus side, I don't wake up having them anymore. During the hard chemo, I would have dreams that I was suffocating and actively dying with my kids at my bedside. Cue nightly panic attack and insomnia. It was rough. I finally asked my oncologist for medication and that helps a lot. Let me just say if you are reading this and dealing with mental health struggles, there is ZERO shame in asking for help. One thing I've learned over the years I worked in healthcare and now the years of being the patient, we all struggle. Some of us are just more willing to talk about it than others. 👋👋 Don't sit in silence, reach out, write it down, get a counselor. There are so many options to help you. You don't need to suffer alone.

Anyway, that's enough from me today!

07/03/2025

A little throwback to the last 4 years.

For those who may not know, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in February of 2021. I started chemo on my son’s birthday, also the day before my 40th birthday!

I decided to look back on the last 4 years since August will be my actual 4 year NED date. It’s been 4 (almost) YEARS. Crazy to say and even crazier that I’m the one typing this! I didn’t think I’d make it to 4 years. Statistically speaking, it wasn’t going to happen. But here I am!

A lot has changed over the past 4 years. Mostly my mental health and physical appearance. I had to quit my job and college. I’ve had 6 or 7 surgeries. My hair is flat & thin. My body aches/burns 24/7. My heart rate is high most days. I’m completely heat intolerant. Anything over 85 & I might as well stay home. The neuropathy (it feels like they are asleep but also on fire) in my hands and feet is enough to drive a person mad. Financially, cancer has bankrupted us. I lost my medicaid which was a HUGE help. I had to get a pill divider bc I would forget which meds I took. My memory is absolutely awful. I don’t like to leave my hosue alone. 🤪

It’s not all bad tho! I’ve been able to stay on my first line drug! I’ve had mostly stable scans for FOUR years! I’ve learned to slow down and listen to my body. I know if I push it, I’ll be in bed for days after so I’m selective when and how hard I push. I’ve gotten to spend much needed time with my kids. I’ve made some really great friends through this. People who seem to love me despite my flaws, limitations and negative bank account. People i didnt know but know consider friends. I got to take a girls trip with the bestie and attended my first Breast cancer summit! I’ve done a podcast! I have hair! I’m able to be there to help my parents. I’ve volunteered at church! I’m back to cooking (except on chemo days). I’ve been able to swim daily this summer!

So, it’s not all bad. It’s a mixed bag. I love making memories with my friends and family. While I’m not rich in the traditional sense, I’m blessed beyond measure with the things that really matter.