Nancy's Story

Nancy Jennings was diagnosed in January of 2004 with breast cancer. She underwent successful treatment and participated in the 2004 San Francisco Avon Walk for Breast Cancer as part of the Sistah Pink team. During the walk, Nancy and Kimber Peterson of the Sistah Pink team were interviewed and photographed for the book "Why we walk," wearing the team's straw Stetsons adorned with tiaras and pink feather boas. They were also in the 2005 Avon calendar (Miss Junes).

2005 saw another Avon Walk with a team of friends and sisters and another year without cancer. In 2007 when Nancy's company McData merged with Brocade, she decided to take a break from high tech and go traveling on her own, all 5-foot 3-inches of her.

First stop was Eastern Europe. For two months she started in Prague and traveled through Poland (Visiting her grandmother's home town), Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. She ended her Europe visit in France, Italy, Ireland and Scotland for one 1/2 months.

In 2008 Nancy took a long tour through Southeast Asia (SEA). She traveled in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Her personally illustrated adventures (shared with George Clooney!) are recounted in her blog http://fancynancyontheroad.blogspot.com/ .

Her cancer reoccurred when she returned from SEA, metastasizing in the stomach and upper intestines. It was chronic, and while there were no surgical options there were other treatment options.

With her doctor's blessing, she headed off to the Beijing summer Olympics.

Once back she decided to get Barack Obama elected, heading up the San Jose office, recruiting her sisters Judy and Karla to do so as well in Colorado and Georgia. Even with chronic cancer, Nancy's energy was incredible. She attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver, watching Barack accept the nomination in Denver's stadium with fireworks going off. A magic moment.

She joined Hitachi Data Systems in business development in June, 2009. Her cancer was reacting well to chemo, and she was able to work and travel, getting in a couple dive trips in Indonesia.

The chemo had run its course last year and other treatments have not been successful.

Her sister Karla tells one of many Nancy Stories:

"Nan visited my husband and me about ten years ago when we were in London, and we decided to drive a rental to Edinburgh and check out the castle. We drove all day without a fill-up, and I kept thinking, wow, we're getting excellent mileage, but as it turned out the gas gauge was broken. Around eleven at night we were driving through the Yorkshire moors when the car shuddered to a stop. My heart sank at the whooshing sound the tank made when I unscrewed the cap. The middle of nowhere late at night, quite desolate. Nan suggested we hitch to the nearest station. While Kurt and I sat in the car, she stood by the side of the road, and soon a 16 wheeler carrying three tons of potatoes roared past. She smiled, waved, and for an eighth of a mile I could hear the brakes screeching on that truck. They turned around and came back, giving us all a ride in their cab to the nearest station, and accepting only a candy bar in return. Nancy always made solving any crisis look easy."