SouthPark Magazine: Jenn Andrews Featured
For wellness coach and cancer survivor Jenn Andrews, an unexpected viral movement launches a nonprofit.
by Michelle Boudin
For 3 miles, Jenn Andrews had deliberately paced herself, determined to complete the entire race without slowing to a walk at any point. But when the cancer survivor and amputee rounded the last curve of the Isabella Santos Foundation 5K for Kids Cancer, the finish line was in sight and she realized she no longer had to keep anything in reserve.
“When we turned and saw that last incline, I was kind of struggling, so we put on some Cardi B and somehow pushed through. I got runner’s high, so I took off sprinting to the finish line, and when I got there I was crying.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt as accomplished … in my entire life, out of anything I’ve ever done. So much had been taken away from me, and [finishing the race] gave me a sense of gaining some of what was taken away back.”
More than 30 friends surrounded her on that day in September, including her oncologist and her high-school sweetheart husband, Miles, who ran by her side throughout the race. They all wanted to see her cross the finish line and achieve the goal she’d set for herself five months before.
That race was just five months after Andrews, a health and wellness coach, had surgery to remove her right foot. She’d found a cancerous tumor while getting a pedicure in 2013. When it came back in early 2018, doctors told her her best hope of seeing her young kids grow up was to amputate.
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