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Jessi was born into a fairly normal family: a mom, a dad, soon she had a little sister- me. Before Jessi turned seven, our mom died of cancer. Being a little girl without a mother is hard enough, but she also had me. I didn't realize growing up that she had inherited me as a responsibility, but she did. My dad was grieving and trying his best to find a way to stay home and provide for his two daughters, so my sister pretty much took over the roll of mother to me.
As time went on, my dad took back over the roll of main parent. My sister never stopped though. Jessica took up figure skating when she was ten and threw herself into it. My dad basically told her, most of the kids competing with her had been skating since they could walk - so any spare minute she had was at the ice rank, or in our driveway, doing jumps, doing spins, on roller blades working her legs. Even on a trampoline practicing. Jessi has always had a determined soul; she doesn't put in partial effort to anything she does. Jessica worked her butt off and competed for years, through college in fact. She didn't make it to the Olympics, but she did amazing. She never stopped trying. Sometimes, looking at my older sister on those skates, falling, getting back up, going and going and going - I thought even then that maybe she was being too hard on herself. But I admired her for it.
School was the same way. Jessi always had perfect grades, she always sat down and did her homework and made sure it was done. My dad wasn't one to check our homework. He wasn't one to sit with us and hold our hand through projects - it was all Jessi. She even held my hand through projects. When it came time for college, she of course, put her heart and soul into that too. Jessica got into University of Illinois and Purdue, her top two picks, for Aerospace engineering. She decided on University of Illinois and interned at NASA and B.E. Aerospace. However, even with her ridiculous schedule, Jessi always made sure to come home and check on me, her little sister.
My dad had gotten married my freshman year of high school- when Jessi was leaving for college. And with his new wife, who wasn't our favorite person, we got three step siblings, who also weren't exactly our best friends. Jessi - struggling to find herself in college, came home at least once a week to check on me, fight for me, and give me an ally in a house where it seemed like everyone was against me. Looking back, she probably sacrificed a great deal of social life just to make sure I wasn't alone. I admired the way she came home and talked to everyone like she was in charge- even my dad and his new wife. She seemed fearless. Jessi has since confided in me that she was extremely worried but she was fully ready to take me to her apartment to live with her if need be; something that as a full time engineering student would've been a major inconvenience.
I to this day do not understand how she did all that before the age of twenty-one. She was essentially a mother. Then, shortly after she graduated college, she moved to Virginia to become head of her own engineering team at a big name bank. She loved it there. I was slightly disappointed that she didn't go to work for NASA (the offer was on the table) but I also understood why she didn't. She got married only a couple years after moving, to a man who was raised in a very religious household. The almost opposite of the way we grew up. Sure, we attended church on some of the major holidays, but it was never required. And for a very long time, Jessi was atheist. I remember her telling my dad that fact when she was in high school. It was the first time I remember them having a screaming match. When Jessi told us about this man, before they were engaged, she told us she had started going to church, we were concerned that she was changing herself for him. She got re-baptized before the wedding and when I talked to her about how she never used to believe any of this, she looked so ecstatically happy to tell me that she did now. It was then that I realized that she hadn't changed for him. She did it on her own because it was something that made her happy.
Another year went by, and Jessi became a mother to a beautiful little boy, and then, not ever a year later- she found a lump. We were no strangers to breast cancer. Our aunts, grandma, and our close family friend had gone through it with us standing by them. When Jessi got the information, her immediate reaction was that she wanted the double mastectomy and then to continue to with treatments as long as she needed. She was brave and ready and fierce. And then, before she could get any kind of treatment, her doctor informed her of the blessing that was also growing inside her. Jessi was pregnant. Unplanned, but not unwanted. Jessi, being herself, saw this as the biggest blessing and took it as an opportunity. As her body went through the changes of pregnancy, she also went through the hardship of chemotherapy treatments. The sickness, the weakness... I have seen cancer treatments, I sat with people while they puked their brains out after chemo, but I could never imagine the strength it took to do it while pregnant.
Nine months and many treatments later- she has a healthy and a little fussy, baby girl. I went to see them a couple weeks ago, to meet my new niece, Anastasia Hope, and see how my sister was really doing. She told me it was all worth it. That if she could she would do it all again. Jessi is still not technically cancer free, she's having two more surgeries and we won't know more until after that. She looked more tired than I have ever seen her in her life, and yet... she still stood tall, she still looked strong. She never wavered while we were visiting. Jessi was still a full time mother and working from home. She kept up with an almost two year old and balanced her newborn in one arm while making her a bottle because she refuses to be put down. While she was doing all this, she was trying to talk to me about what she could do to help me plan my wedding. HELP ME... while she's doing all this she's trying to help me.
Maybe it's because her motherly instinct had to kick in so early on in life,. Maybe she truly is just some kind of miracle worker. Jessi is by far the strongest woman I have ever met. Maybe I'm biased but I can't imagine anyone not looking at her like some kind of superhero. Her kids are so unbelievably lucky. I don't know how she does it. It was so wonderful to laugh and hug my sister again, and so scary to think that this could have turned out so differently. Yet, she never showed that she was scared. She stood tall and proud and ready. Life has not been fair to my sister, but she's not angry at the world. She doesn't blame anyone else. Instead she talks about how it's a learning experience. She blogs about her journey, saying she hopes it'll help some other mom who might have to go through the same thing.
I know that many people go through cancer and treatments and do amazing. That's not my point. My point is that no matter what life has thrown at her, she never got angry- she stayed strong and made it work for her. Jessi "Keep your head and stay positive." in the form of a person. Jessi worked hard and persevered and now, she's a successful engineer for a top banking company, a wonderful mother to two beautiful children, an amazing wife, and a fighter.
About the Creator
Michelle Schultz
I'm mostly an editorial writer. I love to share my opinions and experiences. I don't hold back and I swear so if you take offense easily, my articles probably aren't for you. I'm a single mom just trying to stay sane.
@loreleismom
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