Geneva woman shares personal story of colorectal cancer recovery

As a Realtor in Geneva, Jenn Henry was always busy.

She let her 50th birthday breeze by, not heeding the guideline for people to get their first colonoscopy as a preventative screening for colon and colorectal cancer.

Even when she started having symptoms in April 2023, Henry passed it off as stress.

“Being a Realtor in general is a stressful job,” Henry, 54, said.

She got stomachaches on a regular basis. Abdominal discomfort. Did not sleep well. Lost weight.

Bloodwork showed she was low on iron and vitamin D, so she started taking supplements.

By September, she could hardly have a bowel movement at all.

Paging Dr. Google

So she Googled her symptoms.

“I thought there was a blockage,” Henry said.

Google diagnosed her symptoms as inflammatory bowel disorder caused by too much vitamin D and iron in the supplements.

She sent her husband to CVS to ask the pharmacist what to do. He came home with MiraLAX, an over-the-counter laxative, and she went on to a closing.

“I got through my day and when I got home I still had the symptoms,” Henry said. “And my husband said, ‘For the love of God, call the doctor.‘”

She called, left a message and a nurse called back.

She explained her symptoms: Pain, trouble having a bowel movement and what does come out has a little bit of blood.

“The nurse said, ‘You may have a dangerous blockage, you need to go the ER right away.’ I said, ‘OK.‘”

She went to the emergency room at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva the next day, on Sept. 12, 2023.

“It wasn’t like I was doubled over in pain or dying. I knew there was something wrong, but I didn’t think it was cancer,” Henry said. “I was shocked when they said in the ER that I had a mass in my colon and my liver was suspicious of cancer.”

Henry shares her personal story to encourage others who are too busy or not mindful of symptoms in their bodies, to take a breath and follow the guidelines for colonoscopy. March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

“The more I tell the story, the more clear it becomes to me that we should listen more to our bodies,” she said.

“Ten years ago, it would have been, ‘OK, Jenn, you only have 12 months to live. Get your affairs in order.’ We are extremely lucky to be in the age of medical advancement.”

Cancer treatment

The hospital admitted her and did four days of testing.

Then she met with Dr. Arlene D’Souza, a medical oncologist who told her she had stage 4 colorectal cancer that had metastasized to the liver.

Stage 4 cancer, also known as metastatic cancer, means the cancer spread from its original location to other organs.

“It was the shock of my life,” Henry said.

She had a tumor the size of a softball behind her rectum and cancerous lesions on her liver.

Because she was deficient of certain enzymes – something that occurs in less than 10% of patients – D’Souza treated Henry with immunotherapy instead of chemotherapy.

“Immunotherapy makes the body attack the cancer cells,” D’Souza said. “We check all our cancer patients to see if immunotherapy is a more tolerable option.”

In January 2024, surgical oncologist Dr. John Abad performed the first of Henry’s three surgeries, this one to remove the lesions from her liver.

He performed all the surgeries at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital. He also removed her gall bladder just to be safe, she said.

The liver healed and regenerated itself.

She had another two months of immunotherapy and a week of radiation. The softball-sized tumor shrunk to baseball size and Abad removed it in July 2024.

It required her to have an ostomy, an opening in her side to empty waste so her bowel could rest before a third and final surgery in September 2024 to reattach her intestines.

Screening saves lives

If she had the recommended colonoscopy at age 50, there was a good chance Henry’s cancer would not have advanced the way it did, Abad said.

“That is her motivation to speak out for people to get the colonoscopy and screening,” Abad said. “She had to learn the lesson herself about the need to follow those screening guidelines because it obviously saves lives and prevents cancer.”

Patient denial is not uncommon, Abad said.

“Denial is reality for a lot of patients who think in their gut that something is not quite right, but they start to rationalize,” Abad said. “Meanwhile the symptoms are getting worse. That is a reality we see far too often.”

Abad praised Henry’s willingness to speak out.

The other screenings – such as mammograms, prostate cancer screening and bone density scans – are easier.

“Colonoscopy still carries a high rate of noncompliance,” Abad said. “The bowel prep is the one everyone dreads ... but it is still the best way to prevent colon and rectal cancer.”

D’Souza said though Henry has recovered well and is cancer free, she agreed with Abad that a colonoscopy at 50 could have prevented the cancer.

“She is an extraordinary woman. Her attitude is amazing,” D’Souza said of Henry. “She wanted to tell her story in effort to save other people.”

For Henry, she has to be the voice that reminds people to listen to their bodies and do the recommended screenings.

Because she didn’t and lives to tell the tale.

“The most important message is prevention,” Henry said. “I have to share my story so somebody else does not have what I had. What I went through was preventable.”