Jen Shubert

May 2023

My name is Jen Shubert. I was born and raised in the Lewis-Clark Valley (Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, WA). In my early years of adulthood, I was a teacher and principal at a 90-90 school (90% poverty, 90% minority). I was an overly dedicated educator and student…a full-time Educational Specialist while working towards my Master’s in Education, running an after-school program, fostering numerous babies, and being a wife. I was doing everything I knew to overcompensate for my lack of self-confidence.

As time went on, the stress increased, and my health declined. I didn’t see it.  As a direct result, I delivered my only living biological child at 30 weeks and 3 days. I became increasingly overweight, experienced many years of heavy/painful menstrual cycles, endured five miscarriages, dealt with numerous ovarian cysts, and suffered from an autoimmune disease.

Nothing woke me up to the overwhelming stress my body was enduring.

My eyes finally opened when our adoption attorney called us just days before finalizing the adoption of our daughter. The state denied our petition for adoption because she was in daycare too much.

At this point, I finally realized this cycle of self-destruction had to end. I resigned from my job and joined my aunt in real estate.

Over the next few years, I reduced the amount of stress in my life significantly. I began losing weight, went months without symptoms of my autoimmune disease, and this began to heal both my body, soul, and my relationships.

In July of 2021, I was a 40-year-old realtor, wife, and mother of three children (one biological and two adopted). I was loving life!

The pace had slowed enough for me to focus on my priorities, I ran my own schedule (instead of it running me), and I felt valued, appreciated, and important. As my family and I were wrapping up our summer plans and preparing to take our eldest son to college in Tennessee, my business partner and I realized we hadn’t yet purchased the life insurance policies we had promised to purchase as a part of establishing our LLC. I quickly called to set up this insurance.

As a part of establishing insurance, a company came to my house to perform routine blood-work. Days later I received a call alerting me that my CA-125 was 1998 which was extremely elevated. They explained that this was a potential marker for indicating cancer in my body. They recommended I be seen right away.

We live in a more rural part of Idaho/Washington and do not have any gynecologic oncologists. I set up an appointment with a doctor two hours away and went to see her two weeks later. I went through a battery of tests, including a CT scan, MRI, biopsy, and more blood-work.

On August 10, the day before leaving to go across country to drop our eldest at school, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage 1B. The doctor wanted to perform an immediate hysterectomy and oophorectomy as soon as I returned home. My surgery was scheduled for August 18th, my 41st birthday.

Unfortunately, while in Tennessee, I contracted the Covid-19 virus, and my surgery was postponed until October. In the meantime, Governor Inslee reinstated the medical lockdown, and my procedure became elective and was delayed again. Over the next several months, I underwent oral chemotherapy at home as I awaited updates. None seemed to come. At first, I thought it meant things were no big deal, but as time went on, I read more and became increasingly concerned. I began having more pronounced symptoms including severe stomach pain, constipation, bloating, severe bleeding for months, extreme fatigue, and migraines.

I tried to seek help, but no matter where I turned, I couldn’t get answers. I felt unseen, unheard and** unimportant. During these several months, Cancer created a significant amount of turmoil for my family: Fear (Am I going to die? Is my cancer spreading? Why can’t I get answers?), bills poured in, depression hit, my children acted out, and we were all exhausted.

Finally, in February, I got a call back. My doctor recommended I go to a gynecologist in Idaho to have a hysterectomy. I went in to see a local Ob/Gyn. He ordered additional scans. These showed my cancer had progressed and was now categorized as stage 2B. He sat with me, cried with me, and for the first time ever… he listened to me. He made connections between my level of stress, my autoimmune disease, my fertility, and my cancer. He truly saw me. He scheduled surgery for the following month. It was a difficult surgery with some minor complications, but he was confident they got all the tissue.

I waited three months between the surgery and my first scan with bated breath. In June 2022, my scans showed no evidence of disease. I was so relieved; I was one of the lucky ones.

Although I feel incredibly blessed to be nine months disease free, this experience has motivated my husband and I. Since then, we have been made increasingly aware of the risk of recurrence that is directly linked to obesity, stress, and diet. We have been working to change all three. We have lost a significant amount of weight, have been intentional about self-care, and changed our diets. We have made significant life changes and have been working with friends to help other women and families going through similar circumstances.

In January of this year, we established the Lili GC Foundation (named in honor of our dear friend, board president, and current warrior Liliana Saunero-Nava). We began our fundraising journey, had the pleasure of supporting several local women, and connected with incredible people. We are amazed how every single day is a blessing. This adventure continues to show us every day that even what the enemy means for evil, God can turn into good!