A resilient mum-of-three has vowed to “defy the odds” after receiving news that she only has six months to live due to a tragic cancer diagnosis.
Jenna Wareing, 33, was told she had stage three breast cancer in September 2022 and despite undergoing brutal treatments, the cancer has sadly spread to her liver.
Despite the setbacks, the loving mum refuses to let the news defeat her, saying: “I want to defy the odds and I will, and I believe that.”
“I will be in control of my living and how I live. I’m not going to let cancer control how I live my life. I don’t want to be at home in bed, unable to do things. I want to do everything I possibly can to see my kids grow up.”
Jenna started hormone therapy injections in the hope that it would slow the spread of the cancer, but she suffered severe side effects.
She explained: “I had an inflamed liver, diaphragm and stomach. I’d lost nearly a stone in three weeks. Basically, the treatment is not working.
“I found out only last week. They offered me more chemotherapy – but if I didn’t take any treatment, the prognosis would have been four to six months.”
Jenna is now taking a break from treatment while she determines what the best move is for her and her family.
She told the Liverpool ECHO: “I feel so weak. With all the treatment I’ve had, I wanted to take some time out with my family to decide what’s right for us and for me. I’ve been looking into alternative ways that I can support my body while fighting.
“I will be proactive in my fight, but I haven’t made a decision about what that looks like yet.”
Despite her painful diagnosis, stoic Jenna still managed to set up a charity night at Aintree Racecourse this month, with the funds going towards her private care at Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Any money leftover will go into a trust fund for her three children.
She added: “I’m so lucky because I have so much support and all my family and friends are around me. I know that whatever decision I make, things will be fine. I’ve got no worries about what will happen to my children. I know they will always be taken care of.”
She also paid thanks to the charity LARKS, based in Liverpool, the Marina Dalglish Appeal, which helps women suffering from breast cancer, according to the Echo.
She said: “You’re around people who are in the same mental and emotional state as yourself.
“No matter what group you’re in, there’s that support there. They understand the effects of what treatment can do; they have that experience of how they feel, how they look.
“It’s hard for women who struggle with body image, losing your hair. Your features change so much during a cancer battle and that’s hard on a woman. Going to the support group at LARKS I met two of my closest friends who are like family.
“It’s somewhere that every woman who faces breast cancer should go to, because it’s so positive. All we do is laugh. It’s not a group where you go and it’s doom and gloom. It’s wild and carefree and it shows you what true living is.”
On November 12 this year, 50 of Jenna’s friends and former classmates in her year at Notre Dame Catholic College in Everton, will walk 19 miles to Southport to raise money for her charitable appeal.
To find out more about the walk, or to make a donation click here.
