Running around after her two young boys kept Jenny Wu in good shape. The sole parent of Aaron, 10, and Nathan, 2, never smoked, ate well and exercised frequently.
So it came as a shock when she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer just eight days before Christmas, at the age of just 42.
“I was congested and had a build-up of fluid in my lungs. Although I was certainly not feeling my normal healthy self, I put it down too either asthma or hay fever,” she said.
The Cairnlea mother had been prescribed asthma inhalers and antibiotics for what was believed to be a chest infection in September.
By mid-December, she told her doctor she was feeling worse, not better, and she was sent to have her chest X-rayed.
“The results saw me rushed to Sunshine hospital’s emergency department,” she said. “It was at this point when my whole life turned upside down. A five-centimetre mass on my right lung was stage four lung cancer. I had a tough battle ahead.”
“She was devastated,” long-time friend Jeff O’Donnell said. “Being the sort of person Jenny is, she didn’t want to hear that, she didn’t want to die.”
The medication Ms Wu’s oncologist has prescribed for the rare and difficult to treat cancer is prohibitively expensive. Taking the two tablets a day prescribed will cost Ms Wu almost $8000 a month. She’s already sold her Deer Park house and has moved in with her parents at Cairnlea.
Caroline Springs group WESTFAD, of which Mr O’Donnell is a member, has started a fundraising campaign. Donate at Rare Cancers Australia: treat.rarecancers.org.au/campaign/2046/helping-jenny-wu.
