Still fighting after 3 cancer bouts

As Glenda Janning is amid her third major bout of different cancers within the past 20 years, she is convinced attitude is what is keeping her alive.

The 78-year-old farm woman was first diagnosed in 2003 with breast cancer. In 2015, Janning found out she had cancer on her kidney. Just a year later after determining the kidney cancer was gone, doctors found yet something else— ovarian cancer. She is in the middle of her third battle with ovarian cancer. 

“Ovarian has been the worst cancer,” Janning said. “I’ve been fighting ovarian for seven years. I’ve beaten a couple statistics already.”

To create even more heartache for Janning while battling the second round of ovarian cancer was losing her 35-year-old grandson, Ryan Jirele, earlier this year to stomach cancer.

She is convinced her grandson’s death has led to a deterioration in her health. When Janning came back in April from Florida where the family lives during the winter, doctors found her ovarian cancer had worsened. 

“I believe the stress and grieving brought on the cancer even more,” Janning said. “It was grieving over Ryan that made this come back big time. Ryan’s passing is one of the hardest things I have encountered. I have done plenty of mourning. It can be piercing and horrendous.”

Janning still can’t believe he’s gone.

Just a year ago, Jirele stained their house. He did many other odd jobs around the farm. He also enjoyed organic gardening and planting tulips. “I was the money man, and he was the muscle man,” Janning said. “In our house, every room has evidence of him. His hand is all over,” she added.

And then there was last year’s holiday season when he teamed up with grandma to make 18 pounds of Swedish meatballs, which were served with potatoes on Christmas night.

“He was an excellent cook,” Janning said of her grandson. “We had many goofy times with him. We would often hoot and holler while playing cards. There are a lot of good memories.”

Cancer bouts

Janning’s long journey of fighting cancer began in 2003 when a normal mammogram discovered breast cancer. “They found it very early and a biopsy dealt with it,” she said, noting her mother died of breast cancer when Glenda was 16. “I’m not a poster child for them (mammograms), but I believe in them.”

After knocking down the breast cancer, Janning skated along to 2015 when she began experiencing “tummy problems.” Doctors found a mass on her right kidney. “I didn’t know I had it,” she said.

Janning’s streak of being cancer-free didn’t last long this time. By Christmas 2016, she had a biopsy done at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. “They told me your kidney is fine, but we have something else to check,” she recalled. That's when doctors found Stage 3B ovarian cancer.

She underwent surgery and chemotherapy to remove the cancer. “The operation really took her down,” Ron Janning recalls.

The ovarian cancer returned by Christmas 2020. Janning went to another doctor for a second opinion. She was told the cancer was small and not to worry about it until after spending the winter months in Florida. She began regular treatments in April 2021 and within months had several good scans.

“I’m blindly thinking I am good to go indefinitely,” Janning said after receiving the good scans.

But more cancer was discovered this past April, one month after Janning’s grandson died.

Part of the challenge facing Janning now is that the drug she had been utilizing is in short supply.

On July 6, she began the first of 18 treatments. As of early September, she is about halfway through. Janning said the treatments have gone relatively well, though she lost 20 pounds in about three weeks.

“It took my appetite away,” she said of cancer treatments. “That’s not a good thing… you need to eat. Ovarian is its own kind of cancer.”

Janning said the fatigue she experiences is extremely draining. “You have no energy,” she said. “The effect of what I feel is from the drugs.”

She marvels at how active her husband continues to be. In addition to farming, Ron also has a growing seed business and collects antique tractors.

“I just call him the Energizer bunny,” Glenda said. “I wobble, but I haven’t fallen down yet.”

Attitude and faith

While cancer has stripped Janning from being physically active, she is grateful for what she can do. And as hard as it is to deal with cancer, she has found solace in her attitude and faith.

“I have strong faith, and I trust in the Lord and my doctors,” she said.

She also relies on her husband of 60 years.

“He’s been wonderful with me,” she said pointing to her husband Ron.

Attitude has played a key role in Janning’s survivor through three bouts of cancer.

“My glass isn't half full or half empty,” she said. “My glass is overflowing. I can’t change things in my life, but I can manage them. Your attitude is going to make a big difference. I have a good outlook. I have a good attitude. I believe it’s my faith.”

Cancer aside, Janning is sadly no stranger to tragedy. The Jannings lost their 16-year-old son, John Janning, in 1982 when he was hit by a drunk driver near their farm.

“That was a capital T, tragedy,” said Glenda Janning. “Time is the greatest healer, but you never totally get over it. You learn to live with it.”

After John died, Glenda admits she was angry at God. “I had anger I could not believe I had. We all struggled for a while,” she said, adding she took psychotherapy to deal with the loss.

The Jannings are left with many memories of their son, whom Ron expected would have taken over the family farm. “John is in us,” Glenda Janning said pointing to her heart.

While Glenda admits she doesn’t attend church regularly, she considers herself a deeply committed Christian. “My God is all around me. I put my trust in my God,” she said, adding it has helped her through the cancer battles.

Janning said the joy in her life comes from the physical evidence that Jirele left them. “Nobody can take that from us, and I can enhance it,” she said. “Even in his passing, he has been inspirational.”

She also lives for being around her family, all of which live in the Owatonna area. They have 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Janning hopes to make it year five for spending the winter months in Florida.

“The future is somewhat unknown,” she says. “I’m praying that I get to Florida again this year.”

And she’s prepared in the journey forward to continue leaning on her faith.

“I have faith in the Lord. If I didn’t have that, I would be more fearful.”