I can’t explain why, but I was drawn to cancer-related topics as a child and recall doing a school project on child leukemia. I was emotionally invested to help in any way that I could because the fact this could happen to children and their families was a devastating thought. Years later and deep into my career in the pharmaceutical industry, I found my way into oncology and have been working in this space for about 10 years. Growing up, I didn’t really have any family members or even close friends who were affected by cancer, but I was still drawn to help those in need.
In Sept 2023, my world came crashing down with a phone call from my Dad. He had been diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia. The good news at the time was that this rare subtype of AML had a high cure and 10-year survival rate, but the bad news was that this statistic only applies to those who survive the first 30-days. Being a rare cancer, there’s not a lot of data and there is a large information gap on the likelihood of survival in the first 30-days.
One week after his diagnosis my dad went into respiratory distress, and within 10-days of his diagnosis, he had sadly passed away.
The pain was and still is indescribable. I can’t change what happened, but I can get out of bed every day to do what I can to help others avoid similar outcomes. This was one type of cancer that can be cured, but even with a curable cancer, clearly there is work to do.
Jennifer Lowther, MBA, BSc
Medical Field Manager, Oncology & Ophthalmology (Canada), Bayer