Influencer mother-of-two and lung cancer sufferer, 36, who has just SIX MONTHS to live shares heartbreaking footage of her children shaving her head amid brutal radiation treatment
- Jenny Appleford set up a YouTube channel following her initial diagnosis in 2021
- The mom-of-two, from California, recently let her kids shave her thinning hair
- Jenny, 36, then thanked them for helping her feel ‘really special and beautiful’
A mommy blogger who has just six months left to live has shared heartbreaking footage of her children shaving her head amid her brutal radiation treatment for lung cancer.
Jenny Appleford, from California, set up a YouTube channel to document her medical journey following her initial diagnosis in 2021.
The 36-year-old recently uploaded a clip which saw husband Kyle, along with son Ellis, seven, and daughter Winnie, four, remove her thinning hair.
She candidly explained that ‘watching [your hair] fall out is weird, scary and uncomfortable’ but thanked her kids for helping her feel ‘really special and beautiful.’
Jenny Appleford, from California, has shared heartbreaking footage of her children shaving her head amid her brutal radiation treatment for lung cancer
The mom-of-two set up a YouTube channel to document her medical journey following her initial diagnosis in 2021
In the latest clip, uploaded to the channel on Saturday, Jenny stated: ‘After two plus years of battling cancer, I am finally balding.
‘I have lost hair through many stages of treatment, just not enough to be balding.
‘Now I’m losing enough to be balding so we are going to shave it.’
She revealed that she told her kids that having no hair – which she compared to a fashionista Barbie – was a choice rather than a necessity in a bid to help them process the change.
‘It has been one week since I completed my radiation for whole brain and spine – and that is because I have LMD disease and that was pretty intense. It has really worn me out,’ she said.
Jenny then removed her head scarf to reveal that almost all of her hair had gone, adding that she had been ‘leaving trails everywhere.’
The mom-of-two then called in her youngsters to begin the process as she asks them ‘do you think cancer did a good job of styling my hair?’
Ellis and Winnie both said no and, when asked ‘do you think you could make it look a lot better?’ – the answer was a resounding yes.
She candidly explained that ‘watching [your hair] fall out is weird, scary and uncomfortable’ but thanked her kids for helping her feel ‘really special and beautiful’
She revealed that she told her kids that having no hair – which she compared to a fashionista Barbie – was a choice rather than a necessity in a bid to help them process the change
The adorable duo then got to work with scissors and electric clippers before Jenny showed off the finished result.
And she later thanked them for helping her feel ‘really special and beautiful.’
Speaking after the process, Jenny said: ‘I didn’t cry today, I’m really proud of myself. Crying is fine but I didn’t feel the need to cry.
‘I did cry yesterday and the day before… watching [your hair] fall out is weird. It’s scarier than you’d imagine, makes you more uncomfortable than you’d imagine – or at least for me it did.
‘But last night I tried to start seeing the silver linings and I thought “I have a pretty nice shaped head” – so that was my silver lining.’
Kyle also added that another benefit is there would be ‘no more shedding’ of hair around the house.
She turned to ask her kids off screen what they thought of the final look as one of them exclaimed: ‘It’s perfect.’
The mommy blogger later thanked her two children for helping her feel ‘really special and beautiful’
https://youtube.com/watch?v=geHS8ELHurA%3Frel%3D0
Kyle then concluded by telling his wife: ‘There’s a specific glow that is coming from you currently.
‘I just think there’s a difference between the shedding of hair and the little bit that is hanging on and the kind of trauma that is associated with that.
‘But this is like “I’m owning it, this is me, let’s go.”‘
Earlier this month, the mother-of-two heartbreakingly revealed that doctors had told her she had just six to nine months left after being diagnosed with lung cancer – despite having never smoked – that spread to her brain.
She and Kyle were left ‘sick to their stomach’ in having to break the news to their young children – and took to the YouTube channel to reveal how they did it.
In 2021, Jenny had been suffering with rib pain that would not get better which later progressed to shortness of breath.
Following a scan, the then 33-year-old was diagnosed with Stage IIIA non-smoking lung cancer – also known as adenocarcinoma lung cancer – and began various treatments including rounds of chemotherapy, chest radiation sessions and immunotherapy.
In 2021, Jenny had been suffering with rib pain that would not get better which later progressed to shortness of breath
Jenny was diagnosed with Stage IIIA non-smoking lung cancer and began various treatments including rounds of chemotherapy, chest radiation sessions and immunotherapy
But the mom-of-two was later told the cancer had spread to her brain, lymph nodes and the lining of her lung.
Her diagnosis then changed to stage 4 cancer, meaning treatment was ‘no longer curative and moves to a focus on quality versus quantity of life,’ according to the family’s GoFundMe page.
Throughout her medical journey, Jenny has been documenting her progress to a dedicated YouTube channel ‘as a sort of video diary’ for her family.
The blurb reads: ‘The purpose of my channel is to document my cancer journey to look back on, and/or help anyone else going through anything similar.
‘It is also to potentially help loved ones supporting those who are in this fight as well.’
Just a few weeks ago, she uploaded a clip to reveal that she had been given just months to live.
Sitting with husband Kyle, the pair revealed: ‘The scan results were not good and they were very hard to hear… The doctor said “you have six to nine months to live hopefully, could be more, could be less.”‘
The part of Jenny’s brain currently impacted by the cancer controls her motor skills and ‘a little bit of memory.’
Kyle continued: ‘Jenny doesn’t want to be alive if it means she’s not here mentally.’
The 36-year-old has since explained how she and husband Kyle told their children – son Ellis, seven, and daughter Winnie, three – which left the couple ‘sick to their stomach’
Throughout her medical journey, Jenny has been documenting her progress to a dedicated YouTube channel ‘as a sort of video diary’ for her family
https://youtube.com/watch?v=n1EL1j-QqMQ%3Frel%3D0
Speaking about getting the latest results, Jenny candidly said: ‘I wanted to hide and not let anyone know. I was so sad, ashamed and embarrassed.
‘I was terrified to let everyone down and have to tell everyone this bad news. I know the pain that this news is causing me and I know it is the cancer doing it but I feel like I’m part of it even though I’m not.
‘I feel like I need to say I’m sorry… I feel like I need to apologize to everyone that I’m hurting.’
In another clip, Kyle said that he was ‘sick to his stomach’ that they had to tell their kids before explaining the exchange in a gut-wrenching video.
‘We took them home and we sat them down in the living room… We started by saying all the amazing things about both of them.
‘We wanted them to know how much we love them and how much we wanted kids and loved kids and they’re so great and all the good things about each of them.
‘And then we told them that we had an appointment yesterday. We asked them what they thought of mommy’s cancer up to this point.
‘We asked them, “Do you think it’s getting better or worse based on what you see.” They were a little confused.
‘Winnie said it right away, she said “worse” and Ellis was wishful and saying “I don’t know. Better maybe?” I saw it in his face he was ready for it like he knew we were about to say something.’
Kyle has also started posting videos to his own channel, which has 28,000 followers, with one clip uploaded last week titled: ‘I’m losing my wife’
https://youtube.com/watch?v=8pU8oFskg_8%3Frel%3D0
The couple continued: ‘We were very honest in what we said and we told them what the doctor told us.
‘We were very clear in our words because… it’s very important to be clear with your wording. Don’t make it open ended to where the child could take it the wrong way.
‘You don’t want to say “pass away,” you want to say “die.”
‘So this is a conversation that you don’t practice every day but we definitely wanted to be clear with them and we told them that every living thing dies, right? It’s a part of life and mommy’s is coming a lot sooner than any of us would like.
‘We talked about how the cancer is getting bigger and stronger, finding more places to go and hide to where we can’t get it and they both started breaking down instantly.
‘We told them that the doctor told us about six to nine months. Ellis was very much clinging onto this idea that there could be a miracle.’
What is adenocarcinoma lung cancer?
Adenocarcinomas start in the cells that would normally secrete substances such as mucus.
It is the most common type of lung cancer seen in people who don’t smoke.
It is more common in women than in men, and it is more likely to occur in younger people than other types of lung cancer.
Adenocarcinoma is usually found in the outer parts of the lung and is more likely to be found before it has spread.
Source: Cancer.org
Jenny, who has garnered more than 103,000 subscribers on YouTube due to her candid insights, said that it was important to make sure her children were not ‘holding on to false hope.’
Kyle added: ‘It takes a lot of courage to be honest with them because it’s a scary thing to say but this is the route we took and I’m glad we did it.
They revealed that their two children were left sobbing, before revealing their son’s heartbreaking response.
Ellis reportedly said at the time: ‘I hope I’m just in a bad dream right now and that this is a dream and it’s going to go away and you’re not really dying.’
Jenny concluded: ‘They both are really sharp and really get it. They get it on deep, different levels. They’re two totally different people.
‘They digest it and process it uniquely to themselves…
‘It’s terrible to tell your children you’re dying and them crying and having to hear your little ones say “mommy I don’t want you to die.”‘
Kyle has also started posting videos to his own channel, which has 28,000 followers, with one clip uploaded last week titled: ‘I’m losing my wife.’
In it, he lays bare his own struggles with coming to terms with Jenny’s diagnosis after she was given just months to live.
‘For me, instantly the pressure started to build of if this is your wife’s last hoorah then you’ve got to make it special for her, you’ve got to make every day count and you’ve got to make every moment count, you’ve got to make every celebration count and every little thing that you do has to count.
‘I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that everything is perfect – and I’ll tell you it’s not.’
He continued: ‘I’m struggling to keep it together, feeling like I’m sinking with all the things that we have to do and check off the list and then I start to beat myself up inside because “oh today wasn’t perfect” and so I feel that pressure.
‘Nobody else is putting that pressure on me except for me… I think that’s the caregiver’s curse.’
Kyle explained: ‘I feel like my head is spinning and I can’t keep up… it’s really overwhelming and scary.’
Fighting back the tears, he concluded: ‘The hardest thing in all this is just knowing that you’re losing your best friend. Jennifer’s my best friend and I don’t want to lose her.
‘We do everything together. We have all the same opinions, same goals. I don’t want to do this alone, I don’t want to do life alone and I don’t want to raise the kids alone and I don’t want to be without my best friend.
‘If anybody knows me, they know that the moment I met her was the moment I was truly in love… and now she’s getting taken away from me.’
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