Jennifer McNamara was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer on the 8th of March 2005.
“I don’t think anyone ever forgets the date that they were diagnosed,” she recounts. “It was three days before my mother’s birthday and when I turned up, wanting to tell her in person, she knew something was wrong.”
After a second opinion re-evaluated her initial prognosis of a possible mastectomy back to a lumpectomy, Jennifer began her course of treatment which involved six rounds of chemotherapy, followed by six weeks of radiation and six months of Herceptin.
“I was working full time in government in a marketing role, was really stressed and not enjoying it. I didn’t have a passion for what I was doing anymore. I wanted a change, but felt I was on this merry-go-round. I didn’t know how to get off. Then suddenly I was flung off.”
Jennifer’s surgery was successful and the subsequent treatments cleared her of cancer, but the entire experience was a life-altering one for her.
“It makes you slow down. You get very patient when you become a patient, because you’re sitting in hospitals just waiting for your turn. You’re having blood tests, you wait for your chemo, and you just have to wait. It takes time. You just have to learn to accept that this is your focus at the moment, this is what’s important. So it was like a gift.”
This gift of perspective and the chance of being cured, gave Jennifer the opportunity to begin her life anew.
She got back into art and eventually, she opened up an art school called Art Est. in Leichhardt, Sydney. Here Jennifer runs art workshops for kids and adults as well as other survivors of cancer and people who are going through their own journeys.
“Different people have different things going on in their lives, whether its cancer or some other illness, like mental illness, or just stress in their family, or they are seeking a work life balance. So that’s why art has become really important. For me it was my catalyst” says Jennifer.
She treated her year of recovery as a year of discovery and has decided not to return to the corporate world, instead focusing on her passion for art and for inspiring others to follow their passion.
Jennifer has this advice for anyone going through a similar experience, “Find your own path. Explore the opportunities that are presented to you. You don’t know how you’ll respond until you’re actually experiencing it.”
She reveals, “It’s like you’ve been let in on this secret – you actually can change your life. It gives you the courage to try new things and to take those big leaps of faith, do things you haven’t done or haven’t had the courage to do before.”
“It does give you that second chance at life. I know it sounds cliché but it really does.”
With the help of donations, the newly opened Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney’s Camperdown aims to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their families by bringing together all the elements of cancer research, medical treatment and complementary therapies including art classes, all under the one roof.
To donate a gift for a patient at Lifehouse visit www.lifehousewarming.com.au
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