Survivor taking part in cancer fundraiser
Weeks after daughter’s birth, woman faced mastectomy, chemotherapy
Weyburn’s Jeanette McNalty doesn’t exactly shout from the rooftops about how much she has overcome.
The occupational therapist with the South East Cornerstone Public School Division and figure skating coach at Weyburn Skating Club is a recent cancer survivor and new mother, yet the 31-year-old describes how she has juggled all of the above in very matter-of-fact terms.
Being diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2015 was a big test in itself, but McNalty had given birth just three weeks prior, meaning a mastectomy and chemotherapy all had to be done before she had a chance to take a breath.
There was nothing to be done, except to get on with it.
“This was all before she was six months old, so we had kind of a unique experience,” McNalty says, putting it mildly.
“She” is now-20-month-old Isabelle, who along with McNalty’s husband, Ryan Brooker, is the reason the Weyburn woman has donned her running shoes for Sunday’s Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure in Regina.
“I finished my treatment in March of this year, and my husband and I made the decision that we want to try and be as involved as we can in events that give back to cancer charities … to share my story in the hope that other young people will (gain) awareness about breast cancer,” she says.
One in nine women can expect to develop breast cancer during their lifetime, but few are told such jolting news at just 29.
Yet as she entered her third trimester of pregnancy, McNalty discovered a large lump.
“I really owe a lot to the radiologist who trusted her gut and decided to do a biopsy,” she says of the care she received at Pasqua Hospital.
After she had the mastectomy, the chemotherapy was an extra — and unwelcome — step “to ensure that there wasn’t one rogue cancer cell floating around my body looking for somewhere to land,” she says.
“When we thought it was the end, we were really just getting started,” she says.
Which is a feeling any runner knows all too well.
After finishing the last of her treatments McNalty felt she needed a target, so she took a “Couch to 5K” running plan and slowly built up her endurance.
Finding that running helped her combat fatigue, she did the Relay
I remember (my husband) telling me that his biggest fear was that he was going to be raising our daughter by himself.
for Life in Midale in June, followed by the Terry Fox Run in Weyburn a couple of weeks ago.
The long-term goal was always the Run for the Cure, which takes place in Wascana Park on Sunday. The third leg of her personal hat trick, the run sees 100,000 participants run or walk 5K or 1K to raise funds and awareness at 63 locations across Canada.
Now cancer-free and back to work at both of her jobs, McNalty knows how good things are, but is well aware of how bad things got.
“I remember (my husband) telling me that his biggest fear was that he was going to be raising our daughter by himself,” she says. “My mother struggled with it too, she kept saying that she wished it could be her. So it was tough for our whole family.”
Yet after this poignant aside she’s soon back in matter-of-fact mode, signing off by insisting we mention that women need to keep on top of their screenings and self-checks.
“Just look after yourselves,” she says. Anything else to add? “Not really. That’s the short version of what’s happened over the last year and a half.”
To find out more about the Run for the Cure see cibcrunforthecure.com.