Emily’s Story: “I wanted to write this as an ode to my mom and her resilience, strength, and unshakable fortitude that she fights in the quiet of her own mind.”

When Emily’s mother, Eva Jenkins, was diagnosed with bladder cancer, her world and her family’s changed in ways they never could have imagined. Since then, Eva has faced countless ups and downs, from treatment victories to new challenges, all with extraordinary courage and determination. Her journey is a powerful reminder of what it means to keep moving forward, even through life’s quiet storms. This is her story:

The name “Eva Jenkins” holds a lot of weight for those who know her. To her family and friends, it represents strength, steadfastness and a quiet resilience that braves battles people can’t imagine.

My mom, Eva Jenkins, was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2018. To hear her tell the story of receiving the diagnosis still seems surreal even seven years later. The word “cancer” had swirled around us in battles fought by family and friends and friends of friends, but our family never imagined it would end up on our front door.

When someone you love is diagnosed with a cancer that you have never heard of, it can be daunting and confusing – almost an irrefutable betrayal. A million questions race through your mind, the biggest being, “Why would something so devastating happen to someone so genuinely good?”

Eva’s journey with bladder cancer has been anything but linear. She has been in and out of tumor removal surgeries, rounds of chemo, to hearing the words “cancer free,” to then be turned around months later, saying that the cancer has returned for another round. The journey has been a rollercoaster to say the least. This past June, her amazing Brigham and Women’s Hospital doctor, Mark Preston, and care team decided it was time to have the bladder removed and the creation of her new neobladder (which, our family jokingly calls her custom Birkin bag). This surgery has taken an enormous toll on her, both physically and mentally, but she continues to meet each challenge with remarkable grace and courage.

I wanted to write this as an ode to my mom and her resilience, strength, and unshakable fortitude that she fights in the quiet of her own mind. She weathers storms that most of us cannot see, without complaint, and rarely asks for help. Watching her throughout my life and now throughout her battle with bladder cancer has shown me that strength isn’t always loud or obvious. More often than not, it’s the quiet determination to keep moving forward even when that path feels unimaginably hard.

Like I said at the beginning, the word “Eva Jenkins” holds weight to those who know her, and now I hope it will mean something to those who don’t. I hope her story can be an example and inspiration to push through the quiet storms that people don’t know you’re fighting – but doing it anyway. And a thank you to BCAN, who has reminded us that in this community, “nobody fights alone.”