Share Your Story: Norma Jennings

Norma was diagnosed with terminal metastatic esophageal cancer in the summer of 2020. Upon hearing her dire diagnosis, she immediately decided to start streaming her worst experiences with cancer while wrapping it in her greatest love: pinball. She gives weekly health updates, provides cancer information, and flips her favorite pinball machines from her Florida home.

• 01:45: They've told me that I'm terminal and they told me a year ago.
• 03:08: I went to a family doctor at the end of February.
• 06:01: I was all by myself in this giant hallway when mortality hit me.
• 08:05: I remember not feeling that great because I started to go downhill quickly from the diagnosis.
• 10:21: I couldn't make it from the living room to the bedroom without sitting down.
• 13:00: There was a tournament to raise money for cancer and they put my name on the tournament.
• 15:45: I started playing competitive pinball about seven or eight years ago.
• 18:25: What's your favorite pinball machine and why?
• 21:14: I didn't get my fingers back all the way.
• 21:31: What was your worst moment since your diagnosis?
• 22:42: What about your best moment?
• 24:30: I'm just going to make the best out of X amount of time I have left.
• 27:38: I think that if you have cancer out there, the last thing you want is to be pitied and the last thing you want is to be treated differently because you have the disease.
• 29:05: What is one thing you wish you'd known at the very beginning of your cancer journey?
• 31:27: My sister had breast cancer.
• 32:14: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why?
• 34:24: Insurance is about ensuring that you remain healthy on a much smaller level.
• 36:35: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions
• 40:58: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?

Resources

• Email Norma
• Norma's Twitch Channel
• Norma on Facebook
• American Cancer Society