Fearless Blog

The past few weeks have been filled with a ton of great stuff! On March 24th, I was awarded with 9 other women to be New Jersey Woman of the Year! The award was an empowerment award presented to the woman in NJ who empowers others. You might wonder how we pulled that off given that I have not lived in New Jersey for 20 years but leave it to my publicist to make it happen (aka super mom). The award ceremony was held at Drumthwacket which is the name of the Governor’s Mansion in Princeton, New Jersey. I was very touched to receive this award but even more touched by the hard work that went into getting me nominated for this award. My rock star publicist (can you believe she works for free?!?) wrote a really beautiful essay about me and Dr. Maki as well as good friends, former bosses and colleagues all contributed. It’s so gratifying to know that I make such …

(Please read on...) Read More

I had a great birthday! I turned 21 for the 17th time and it was a great day.
I started the day off with a great spin class. Then, off to work where my parents came to visit and my co-workers threw me a great party with mimosas and ice-cream cake!
Dave and I went to a great Argentinian restaurant for dinner and ended up the day watching NCAA basketball. What a great day.
Unfortunately Duke lost the next day so I am no longer that excited about March Madness.
This coming Tuesday I am being awarded one of ten New Jersey Women of the Year awards and then I had off t Los Angeles for the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. So, I promise to write a juicy update soon!

(Please read on...) Read More

A short note to let you know that I had a really wonderful birthday. I turned 21 for the 17th time (that translated to the fact that I am 37 for those of you who aren’t great at math)!
The day was really wonderful. I started it off with a great spin class and then my co-workers surprised me with a great b’fast in the office. About 50 people attended and we had mimosas, bagels and ice-cream cake (my favorite!).
My mom and dad came to visit and met lots of my co-workers and took lots of pictures of my office.
After work, Dave and I went to a delicious dinner of Argentinian food and ended the night at my favorite place – Cold Stone Creamery! I had enough sugar that day to last a month.
We ended the night watching NCAA basketball. What a great day! Unfortunately Duke lost over the weekend so my happiness faded rather quickly.
This coming Tuesday I am officially awarded one of ten New …

(Please read on...) Read More

As a birthday treat, my mom is spoiling me and taking me to Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA. We are also traveling there with my friend Tina along with her mom and sister. Tina and her family have been there many times so I jokingly call her my “Sherpa” — she will guide me and make sure I don’t go astray as I sign up for all of the wonderful activities that Canyon Ranch has to offer.
In order to make the most of your stay, Canyon Ranch asks each visitor to fill out an extensive “Health & Lifestyle Questionnaire”. How you answer the questionnaire helps the resort plan an individualized, highly customized, “once in a lifetime” stay for each visitor (their savvy marketing words which I respect and hope are true!)
I sat down this morning to fill out my questionnaire. I was answering the questions without much thought when suddenly the question “In general, how would you describe your health?” popped up. I had the …

(Please read on...) Read More

Sunday, March 2nd is a very meaningful day for me. It marks exactly 1 year since I started chemotherapy for the 2nd time. It is hard to believe that for the past 52 weeks I have been getting chemotherapy practically every week. Dave took this picture last year on the first day of treatment #2.
In some ways my recurrence (I don’t like using the word relapse because it sounds like I had something to do with the cancer coming back) feels like it happened years ago and in some ways it feels like only yesterday.
I remember very vividly the shock, anger and disappointment I felt when Dr. Maki shared with me the fact that 2 tumors had reappeared and that I would have to go through even more chemotherapy…and that the chemotherapy would most likely last a much longer time.
I remember the anger that I felt when I learned that the new chemotherapy regimen I was going to be placed on would cause me to lose my …

(Please read on...) Read More

It’s hard to believe that next week will be 1 Year since I started my second cycle of chemotherapy…March 2nd to be exact. I am so grateful that, with the exception of a few tough weeks along the way, I have been feeling really great. My doctors are reluctant to give me an end date and I have decided that I am not going to ask any more. I want to continue for as long as they thing is necessary and I don’t want my constant questioning regarding the end date to imply that I am not comfortable with continuing the regimen. If it comes to a point that I feel like I need to stop then I will let my doctors know but I want to do all I can to get rid of this cancer so I am signed up for the long haul.
As many of you know, I have been dabbling with writing a fun “cocktail-like” book about all of the STUPID, RIDICULOUS, NAIVE, ANNOYING things people …

(Please read on...) Read More

I am feeling so, so great after getting back from a really relaxing week in Puerto Rico. Dave and I definitely needed some R&R; after all of the craziness of Spin4Survival. The hotel was gorgeous and the weather was truly beautiful.
Dave and I used the week to really get back in shape. We slept a lot, ate very healthy (except for a few Pina Coladas!) and exercised every day for a few hours. I found that the heat really, really helped my joints. I absolutely love swimming as it has really helped my flexibility. The cumulative effect of the chemotherapy has made me very stiff and “tight”. I find that swimming is great for relaxing my muscles. Every morning or evening, I swam in the hotel’s lap pool for an hour and I loved it.
As many of you remember, I was getting very dehydrated and swollen from the weekly treatments I have been receiving (thanks to all of you who commented on the chutzpah I displayed for posting the picture …

(Please read on...) Read More

January 27th was an outstanding day! All in all the 2nd annual Spin4Survival raised over $640,000 for cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. We had over 120 teams involved from around the world! Over 500 people “geared up to battle cancer” at Equinox Columubus Circle in an 8 hour bonanza of sweat. People had such a great time and everyone left feeling so inspired. Here are a few quotes to give you a sense of how magical the day was:
“I Just wanted to say congratulations again on such a fantastic event – fun, inspirational and incredibly well-organized! When you were speaking and presenting MSKCC with the (unbelievable!!) check, it all really hit me. And I was not the only teary-eyed one in the audience. I feel honored to have been a part of it, and I am already training for next year.”
“I can honestly say that I do not know a single person who would not be thrilled and honored to partake in next year’s spin4survival.”
“Unimaginable inspiration paired with …

(Please read on...) Read More

Multiple Choice Question The above image depicts the following:
a. an elephant’s skin
b. rolls of dough
c. Jen’s legs from the cumulative effect of her chemo drugs
Unfortunately the answer is “C”. While I am happy to be able to “blame” my bloatedness on something other than indulging too much over the holiday season, it is extremely depressing and frustrating to be retaining this much water. My pants don’t fit…by the end of the day, my legs are twice the size as they were in the morning. In fact, it is hard to differentiate the top of my legs from the bottom of my legs. I have taken to calling myself “stump”.
I have been experiencing a lot of odd side effects over the past few weeks (bloatedness, inability to sweat during workouts, dehydration, soreness of my arms and legs and rapid heart beats). The good news is that when I visited Dr. Maki this past week for my chemo appointment, he explained that this all made sense to him and he was not …

(Please read on...) Read More

Today is December 26th and I am sitting in the day surgery area of NYU Hospital waiting for an update. I am happy to report that I am not the patient this time and that it is Dave who is having minor outpatient surgery. It makes sense to me that Dave’s surgery was set for December 26th…exactly 3 years ago on this date, I met with Dr. Vine of Mt. Sinai and scheduled surgery for what I thought was a benign tumor in my abdominal area.
This time of year is always a bit hard for me. Although I try to push the memories to the back of my mind, I am constantly reminded that three years ago the last few weeks of December were flooded with Doctor’s appointments, CT scans, MRI’s, medical procedures, night sweats, fevers and violent coughs that led to my cancer diagnosis.
In many ways, I feel like I have progressed so much…
Three years ago, I could barely get through a Christmas movie without being thrown …

(Please read on...) Read More