This is my conversation with Jenessa Schwartz. She’s 37 years old, and she’s living with stage 4 colon cancer. She’s also my niece, my sister Cyndi’s daughter. Jenessa has two kids under 10. She was the Womb For Hire (her words) for two adorable surrogate kids, which is one of the menschiest things a person can do in this life. She’s a middle school language arts teacher, a musical theater aficionado, a giant nerd, and beloved to her huge, dear circle of friends and family. And she’ll be on chemo or some form of treatment for her cancer for the rest of her life. 

Jenessa’s blogs:
My Colon Cancer: Semicolon, Not Full-Stop

Womb for Hire – Thoughts on becoming a surrogate mother

Jenessa also got press on her surrogacy at
J, the Jewish News Weekly.

In this episode, we covered a lotta ground. We talked about living with stage 4 colon cancer; colorectal cancer and metastatic cancer; HIPEC surgery; surrogacy; parenting and talking to children about cancer; Jewish culture, teaching, and family life; life with a terminal illness; crisis points and how we make choices to change our lives because of them; relationship changes in the context of a crisis; the epidemic of young people with late-stage colorectal cancer; favorite podcasts; and, most importantly, why you should get a colonoscopy right now. Seriously. If you’re 45 or older, even without symptoms, it’s time.

The Major-General’s Song from The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert and Sullivan, 1879)

The Jewish festival of Purim

Bill’s Café in San Jose’s Rose Garden

What’s a peritoneum?

HIPEC surgery procedure

Ileostomy

“NED” means No Evidence of Disease.

Living with a chemo port

On younger people with late-stage colon cancer: at webmd and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

What does a spleen do? (Turns out, it’s part of a mammal’s immune system and recycles red blood cells, stores fresh blood, and recycles iron into the bloodstream.)

A siddur is a Jewish prayer book used for Shabbat (the Sabbath) and daily prayer.

Shout out to Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas Wow in the World is one of Ramona and Solly’s favorite podcasts.

Jenessa’s fave podcasts to listen to with the kids: 
Wow in the World, Brains On, Smash Boom Best, Story Pirates

Jenessa’s adult faves: 
Radiolab, The Allusionist, Ask Me Another, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me 

I mention that Helen Zaltzman (The Allusionist) now has a new Veronica Mars podcast, which I thought Jenessa would be excited about. And she is.

Jenessa’s recommended cancer research and care organizations are Camp Kesem and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Jenessa’s Blue Star Tribute page at Colorectal Cancer Alliance (link is down as of Jan 2024. Hopefully we will get it back online.)

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Banana peel by Max Ronnersjö.
Theme and interstitial music by Jon Schwartz.

Thanks for listening!