Carleton Place mom staying positive after cancer spreads to brain
Jillian O'Connor coos and laughs as she cuddles 18-month-old Declan in her arms.
"He's an amazing baby," says O'Connor, whose son was born in 2015 while she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for terminal breast cancer that had spread to her bones and liver. "He's a wonderful little boy. He's healthy, he's happy, he's a delight!"
Today the young mother-of-three, who lives outside Carleton Place, Ont., with her husband, faces another dark diagnosis.
The cancer has spread to her brain, requiring a round of radiation treatment that may or may not stop its progress.
But in the same way she's confronted previous bleak diagnoses that might send others into despair, O'Connor shrugs off this latest challenge with courage and hope.
'Touched so many hearts'
"It's been a little tough finding out the little bit of news that we're facing the brain cancer," said O'Connor from her backyard deck. "But that's okay, because I've done the radiation now, and [now] we're at the waiting stage."
"We'll find out around the first of September from an MRI to see if the treatment was successful or not. So [we're] hoping that it's all good. If not, we'll have to go back to the drawing board and see what else has to be done."
It's that ability to stay positive that has Mark Clemons, her oncologist and a lead cancer researcher at The Ottawa Hospital, calling O'Connor one of the most inspiring patients he's ever treated.
"I have been doing this a long time, and I have never had a patient who has touched so many hearts, young and old." Clemons told CBC News.
"There is not a lot of joy in my clinic, but Jillian gives this aura of control. She can deal with it, move forward and keep smiling."
Initially faced skeptics
While she was pregnant, O'Connor told CBC News that she faced many skeptics who felt her treatment — which couldn't wait until after the birth — might harm her baby.
However, when Declan was born on Feb. 1, 2015, there were no traces of chemo in his body.
O'Connor now credits being a busy mother, treasuring her children's individual milestones, as the reason she's been able to keep up her spirits.
"I'm just keeping focussed on them cause they need me to be here," said O'Connor, watching four-year-old Mila and three-year-old Landon entertain their little brother in the backyard. '
"You always want to be here for your children, you never want to think about their life or your life without you there in in it. So I think you just keep your eye on the prize and make sure they have everything they need."
And their mom has reached a milestone of her own lately. Doctors initially told her she had only two years left to live, but she recently exceeded that grim prognosis.
O'Connor says the incredible outpouring of support she's received from friends and strangers who have shared their own stories of cancer survival has strengthened her resolve.
"It's made a world of difference to know there are people out there fighting the same thing," she said. "Or there are people who have fought it and conquered it."
