It’s hard for her to explain, but Jan Jesswein said there is a special bond between fellow cancer survivors.
So needless to say, Jesswein, a Niles resident and four-year breast cancer survivor, is looking forward to meeting more than 100 other survivors when she marches in the Kentucky Oaks Day Survivors Parade in Louisville.
“It’s going to be awesome,” she said. “I can’t even imagine. I get goose-bumps thinking about it.”
Jesswein, a registered nurse at Southwestern Medical Clinic in Niles for 17 years, earned a trip to the parade and the 137th annual running of the Kentucky Oaks on May 6 by winning an online contest. The contest, conducted by Churchill Downs race track and the Susan G. Komen foundation, called for nominations of breast cancer survivors across the country to march in the parade. There was then an online vote and the top 137 vote-getters received two tickets to the race and will be in the parade.
Most of the winners are from Kentucky, but Jesswein was one of three winners from Michigan.
Her co-workers at Southwestern Medical Clinic launched a social networking effort to encourage people to vote for Jesswein.
Jesswein said the clinic even had missionary doctors, spread out across the country, voting for her.
When it was announced over the intercom at the clinic that she was one of the winners, the voice was drowned out by cheering and applause of her co-workers.
“It’s a great place to work. I got so much support and love,” Jesswein said.
Her co-workers were there for her in a much bigger way when she was going through treatment for her breast cancer in 2007.
“At first it was devastating,” Jesswein said, describing when she found out about her diagnosis.
But the support of the nurses and doctors at Southwestern Medical Clinic got her through it. They brought her meals, had bake sales to help pay for her treatment and gave her kind words and prayers.
“Everyone was wearing pink scarves, even the doctors,” Jesswein said. “Their strength and support was just phenomenal.”
After a year of chemotherapy treatment, Jesswein has been cancer-free for nearly four years.
Clara Boardman, a fellow nurse at the clinic, nominated Jesswein for the contest.
“She has done so much for the people in the office. She deserved it,” Boardman said.
Jesswein will take her 10 year old daughter, Lily, to the race with her. Lily was a strong supporter of her mother during her battle with cancer.
“She loves horses,” Jesswein said. “She cried when I told her.”
The Kentucky Oaks Day Parade and the running of the Kentucky Oaks will be broadcast nationally on NBC at 5 p.m. May 6. The Kentucky Derby will take place the following day. Churchill Downs will donate $1 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation for every person in attendance on Kentucky Oaks Day.