Community rallies for Jeni Clarahan

Published by editor on Wed, 10/28/2020 - 1:20pm

By:

Christie Iosbaker

Correspondent

SIGOURNEY – When Jeni Clarahan graduated from Sigourney High School in 2004 she had hopes and dreams to follow, as do all graduating high school students. As Jeni headed off to pursue her nursing degree, the thought of a cancer battle in her future never entered her mind.

On August 21 of this year, while taking a shower, Jeni noticed a lump in her breast. On September 4th, a biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), grade 3, stage 2 (aka regional). In Jeni's case, Stage 2 indicates her cancer is localized to the breast with infiltration to a number of lymph nodes and grade 3 indicates the cancer cells are aggressive. TNBC represents about 10-15% of all breast cancer, according to cancer.org.

Jeni chose to undergo surgery before chemotherapy because, as she explained, “I just wanted the cancer tumor out”. On October 1, she had double mastectomy surgery and on October 12 she underwent the first phase of reconstructive surgery. Now her body needs to heal for four weeks before she begins chemotherapy/radiation therapy.

Jeni has been a Registered Nurse at the Keokuk County Health Center for nine years. For the past two years, she has been the nurse in charge of cardiac rehab, infection control and employee health. She and her husband Casey have four children.

The Sigourney area community has consistently rallied time and time again to help their neighbors when needs arise. Recently, it seems those needs have arisen primarily in the younger population in the form of various types of cancers.

On Sunday, November 8 from 5 – 7 pm there will be a fundraiser for Jeni and her family at the Expo. There will be a free-will donation soup and sandwich supper and a silent auction of mini Christmas trees and gift baskets. All proceeds will be given to Jeni and her family. For further information or to make a donation, please contact Alley Tish at 641-569-3534 or info@mariegracephotography.com or visit Marie Grace Photography on the north side of Sigourney's square.