I “met” Jen Thompson way back in January after I first shaved my head while going through chemotherapy. Someone had sent me her website because she had just done the exact same thing. I reached out to her because our stories were so similar. We were diagnosed with cancer around the same time. We had surgery around the same time. We had identical incisions running straight up and down our abdomens. The photos on her site were almost eery because I felt like I was looking at myself. We are the same age. We are the same height. We look very similar….so much so that when Boo sees a photo of Jen in my Instagram feed she asks “where were you there Mommy?” Since January we’ve become friends and kept in touch….but now our paths have become quite different. And quite honestly I feel quite helpless now but I’ve been blessed with a very supportive network of readers….and I want to pass that along to her.
Jen was admitted last week for surgery after her clinical trial was cut short from complications (stage 4 ovarian cancer). The surgery ended up being much more serious that they originally expected and she’s been in ICU ever since. I want her to be able to give her own update….it’s not my place to tell her story. I’ll pray she’s well enough soon to share on her Am I Still A Girl blog.
Photo from @amistillagirl on Instagram
Another friend, artist Stephanie Corfee has the biggest heart. Seriously…. Stephanie is always the first one to email me when she hears news about anything “How can I help???!!” Love that girl. Anyway, she created this amazing digital print to raise money for Jen’s medical expenses and all the additional expenses that have resulted from her hospitalization in Florida (3,000 miles from home). It’s inspired by a saying that Jen has tattooed on her arm: The Lord Will Fight For You, You Need Only Be Still.
Print it off. Frame it or print on t-shirt transfer paper etc. It’s only $3….less than a cup of coffee. And every dollar goes straight to Jen and her family. As I write this $780, has already been raised and donated from the Vintage Camera Prints. Thank you for your support.
Click image to view the listing:
You can also donate directly….click here.
Photo from @amistillagirl on Instagram
Love you Jen!
Wow….I will keep her in my prayers.
Sending prayers and positive thoughts! And, as always, keep the faith!
The resemblance is amazing right down to the mischievous smile! I will definitely be praying and will stop by to visit her page.
It’s uncanny how she looks like you. I continue to pray for her and send her strength for her fight. I hate f*cking cancer!
I am praying for Jen and her family!
Thanks so much for this beautiful print…I have purchased it and hope to make a T-shirt for my cousin who is also fighting cancer and not doing well.
Thank-you for introducing me to Jen and for all the inspiration you bring Ashley!
Sending prayers Jen’s way. I went to her site and it broke my heart — for her and her boys.
I f’n hate cancer too.
I love these! I, too, feel a connection to Jen and you even though I most certainly do not look like you two beauties. I am 36 and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2011, just a few months before you and Jen’s diagnosis. Praying that we will all 3 have a happy ending to our stories.
hugs hugs hugs to you melissa. keep fighting! xoxo.
Yes hugs and prayers.
Thank you for the blessing you’ve given Jen by posting her story. I’ve purchased my awesome digital files and donated directly to her donation site and will hold her in my prayers. I am inspired by your beautiful spirit and strength and hope that should I ever need the kindness of strangers that I have someone as amazing as you to lift my spirits and help me out.
Oh! This is not just a “saying”! This is one of my most favorite and treasured Bible verses–Exodus 14:14 when the Israelites think they are trapped at the Red Sea with pharaoh’s army right behind them. This is what Moses tells his people (GOD’S people!) a– when even the seemingly impossible is before them they trust. How fitting.
I love that verse so much that I’ll definitely be buying this file. Very cool to see it in this format!
I love “Be Still and Know that I am God.” I would buy a print of that in a SECOND. HMMMM, S CORFEE??
Wow. You two look like twins, inside and out.
I found your blog only a few weeks ago and I have been amazed by your story and courage. Now I read about Jen whom I have never met but am touched and saddened by her story. I have sent an email to Jen’s address to ask where/how I can donate air miles and some money. My thoughts and prayers for her recovery, may God truly bless her with his kindness and love!
They say there is a “Doubelganger” for everyone in the world, Jen is surely yours. She’s been in my prayers since the first time you wrote about her.
Will definately purchase the great new artwork and frame it, put it on my inspiration shelf. 🙂
I’m going to see if I can digitize it and embroider it out. I’m new to that, will see how that goes.
Prayers and healing light heading from our Island of Oahu to Jen, there are many powers here, may they help her.
Rest in peace Jen. You were an inspiration to me and so many others.
Simply beautiful inside and out. My prayers are with you.
Rest peacefully, Jen… may the Lord always hold you in the palm of His hand.
I follow your blog Ashley, and am inspired daily by the person that you are! I lost my sister to cancer at close to your, and Jen’s age :0( It isn’t fair, and is very hard to understand sometimes, but God has a reason, and needed her to be a very special angel in heaven I am sure of it! I watched the video of her with her boys, etc… It breaks my heart that they had to lose her so early, and won’t have her in their life to continually inspire them as she seemed to do to so many people! God Bless them & the rest of the people in her life, and keep them in his loving arms as they go through the grief, and feel the loss of someone so precious to them. I bought the digital print and plan to make some shirts for my friends :0) I also plan to send some $ to her family as I know what a huge cost this ugly sickness brings. Keep being amazing because you help soooo many people! I wish you were my friend :0)