After battling ovarian cancer, Jennifer Garam found meaning in encouraging those facing serious illnesses to advocate for themselves.
Jennifer Garam felt blindsided by her stage 3 ovarian cancer diagnosis, which came just one month after her 43 birthday.
Her life-altering news was delivered in a whirlwind of urgent medical care in 2018. It culminated in a genetic test that revealed she had an increased cancer risk, despite her having no known family history of breast or ovarian cancers.
But in some ways, Garam's shock stemmed from the fact she was working as a freelance journalist in Brooklyn at the time but never encountered crucial details about gynecological cancers.
"I was someone who was working in women's health and had no idea or information about what to expect," she recalled recently.
Now, with her cancer in remission, Garam is living in Westchester County and fighting to ensure fewer women find themselves feeling overwhelmed and alone in their cancer battle.
The stakes are clear as nearly 1 million American women will be diagnosed with cancer in 2025, according to a report published in January by the American Cancer Society.
And while deaths from cancer have decreased overall, the study shows cancer rates keep going up -- especially among women. Researchers also found middle-aged women, like Garam, now have a slightly higher cancer risk than their male counterparts and young women are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed as young men.
Garam's cancer battle included her consulting on a newly released GSK-sponsored survey that underscored the lack of gynecological cancer awareness and challenges faced by patients.
Among The Harris Poll conducted survey findings:
A cancer survivor's story
USA TODAY Network New York interviewed Garam about her cancer experience, as well as her ongoing effort to improve awareness and inspire others facing similar challenges. The conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
How did you get involved in cancer awareness advocacy?
It started with posting on social media to raise awareness.
But initially I was apprehensive about sharing on social media, mostly because I just felt like that would make it really real. Then everyone would know (about my cancer).
Then the first post immediately got such a positive response and people were so encouraging. I would feel so good and people would feel healed and inspired.
I could also control what pieces of my story I could control, instead of feeling like a victim of my circumstances.
The social media posts then led to consulting with companies and organizations on patient communications and advocacy efforts.
What challenges did you face in finding support groups?
I first signed up for a gynecological cancer support group, but it was canceled the day before due to low enrollment.
Then I went to another cancer support group but was by far the youngest person there - like many of them were 30 or 40 years older than me. And there was a higher percentage of men there.
And I was living in Brooklyn at the time, so if it's hard to find support in a major city, I knew people in other places faced even more challenges.
When, how did you find the right support group?
The support group that worked for me was in my survivorship a few years after ending active treatment.
I learned that the after-treatment part is another really important piece to address.
Maybe you would think you're done with treatment and the transition to survivorship would be joyous, and you would be just skipping in the street.
But as the survey noted, 36% of people were unsure of what to expect in after-treatment, so I was not alone (in not having that joyous feeling).
Like in that first week after finishing chemo, I didn't know what to do with myself and cried and missed my chemo nurse and had this feeling of being afloat.
What other support did you need, find?
I did get a lot of support from my hometown, Hastings-on-Hudson. It is really a small, close-knit town, and I connected with a lot of the friends and people I grew up with.
I remember a friend since kindergarten would order takeout for me and have it delivered on the night when I got out of chemo.
I also moved back to Hastings-on-Hudson in 2020 and recently relocated to Dobbs Ferry.
And the two people who were most supportive and helped during treatment were young cancer survivors from my hometown.
I would reach out to them when I was scared to go to a scan and see if the chemo was working and the cancer was shrinking. They just gave me a ton of advice ... because unless you've been through it, you can't know it or understand the experience.
What other ways has this cancer experience changed your life?
Leading up to my treatment, I was really searching for meaning in work ... and then from 2019 through 2024, I had a laser focus in my freelance writing and journalism on topics related to cancer. I now work more directly with companies and organizations in consulting on efforts to improve awareness.
It's so meaningful to me to work for that change that comes from identifying information until the gaps in care and the challenges that patients face are identified ... and looking at ways that it can be addressed.
What else did you learn about cancer?
The benefits of genetic testing ... The results could potentially inform your treatment as well as help your family, if there is a risk, to get others in the family tested.