Meeting 32-year-old Penny Jackson is a memorable experience. Her dazzling smile lights up the room, and her infectious belly laugh fills any empty space. With her ever-positive demeanour, it’s almost impossible to imagine that just four months ago, Penny was fighting for her life against an aggressive cancer.

“I distinctively remember that it was Christmas Eve [2020] when this all started. I was shopping with my sister, and she was talking to me, and I got these really bad pains in my chest, and they did go away, but something just kind of lingered with me,” recalls Penny.

Christmas then came and went, and Penny noticed some peculiar lumps appearing on her legs. A skin specialist told her they were the result of an auto-immune disease, which satisfied her queries at the time.

“I started getting back pain after that and I thought, ‘Oh, I just can’t catch a break!’ and then I noticed a lump had formed right in the front of my chest. My doctor and I both initially thought it was just the same type as on my legs, but then it started getting bigger and bigger,” Penny says.

Her doctor ordered an immediate ultrasound and biopsy, but it was right before school holidays, so, after doing the tests, Penny escaped to a remote town for a holiday with her sister.

Just as the pair were about to jump in the pool, Penny’s phone lit up with ‘No Caller ID’.  

“All my family know I never answer no caller ID’s, but something possessed me to answer it and it was my doctor, who was also on holiday, and she just said, ‘you need to go see a specialist … like tomorrow’,” Penny says.

“I thought ‘that doesn’t sound great’ and my sister and I just sat in this pool stewing over what this could be. It’s funny, my sister posted a photo on Facebook that day and captioned it ‘tranquil days’ and I said to her ‘this has to be one of the least tranquil days we’ve ever had’.”

A supposed three-day wait for Penny’s results turned into two weeks, and she doesn’t really like talking about that time as it was simply “excruciating”. The weeks eventually passed, and Penny received the call to say she was diagnosed with Mediastinal large B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma in April of 2021.

“In a weird way, the diagnosis was a relief because I just wanted to know what was going on … but I was so shocked it was hard to comprehend what that even really meant,” says Penny, her voice softening as she recalls the traumatic memory.

The next four and a half months of treatment was a whirlwind for Penny, who was connected to a pump, somewhat affectionately christened ‘Pumpy’, for 96 hours straight every three weeks.

“I was desperate to get Pumpy off me, and I used to lie in my bed and just be wanting the time to pass. I used to say to my family on repeat, ‘I want it to be October’,” she recalls.

A Year 3 teacher, her stoic plan was to continue working throughout her “extremely strong” chemotherapy treatment, but Penny had underestimated just how horrible the experience was going to be.

“It was just a really awful time in my life, and to have it all coincide with the pandemic was actually some sort of weird blessing in a way that I felt very safe for a part of the time because we were in this bubble and I wasn’t missing out on anything,” she says.

“With my exact treatment, we were trying to completely kill my immune system because then you kill the cancer and having no immune system in a pandemic is scary.”

November rolled around, and Penny was miraculously pronounced cancer-free, prompting a celebration, but of course in Penny-style.

“We called my cancer free party Pumpy’s retirement party. We all hated Pumpy but we loved Pumpy, because he saved my life,” Penny smiles.

She would consider herself a positive person, but admits there were some times during her treatment where she struggled to look on the bright side.

“During my treatment, almost every day I would go for a walk around the lake, and there was this swan family there. We saw the mum make her nest, then 40 days later we saw the babies and watched them grow up. It’s such a special memory.”

Holding on for better days was a lifeline for Penny during her treatment, and one of those better days she dreamed off was being able to do the survivor lap at this year’s Relay for Life.

Throughout her teen years, Penny had participated in seven relays and had always been walking for other people, but this year, it’s all for herself.

“It felt special that I had been a part of something before I really needed it. To be a part of Relay for Life again while being on the other side of my treatment is really significant for me. To be able to say I’ve beaten cancer and I survived … it’s just really special,” Penny smiles.

“You never think it’s going to happen to you until it does happen to you. The money that they raise really helps the research so that people can have a better quality of life during treatment.

A self-confessed pink donut fanatic, Penny has named her team ‘Donut Stop’, and she wears her pink donut earrings gifted by a friend with immense pride.  

“I love a good pun, so we decided on ‘Donut Stop’ meaning ‘do not stop’. It refers to not stopping in the Relay, but also not stopping until we find a cure,” says Penny.

“There’s just too many people impacted by cancer, and Relay for Life is one of those organisations that everyone can get behind because we all know someone.”

“I think sometimes people just think they’re sending $20 into the abyss, but it helps real people.”

You can sign up or donate to Relay for Life at www.relayforlife.org.au

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