Fighting, winning a battle against cancer: Jacki Dunning on support and staying positive

A stunning piece of jewelry adorning her neck tells the story of what Jacki Dunning has endured since August 2021. It captures the battle she has waged for close to two years.

It was a gift Ms. Dunning’s daughter Eliza, 26, gave her on Mother’s Day, bearing a single word: “Warrior.” She thinks her husband Kevin first uttered the word, telling her as she fought metastatic melanoma that it would be, “The year of Jacki.”

For once in her life she had to put everything on hold — family and friends and her role as Shelter Island School District Clerk — to concentrate on her health and treatments, which were often difficult to endure, leaving her in pain and robbed of the energy that had been a hallmark of her life.

Her daughter hopes to have a career working with people dealing with end-of-life issues, Ms. Dunning said, crediting Eliza with giving her the gift of letting her express her fears while struggling to adjust to her illness.

It began that August 2021 when her dermatologist removed a growth from her face. At the time, there was no expectation of a more serious problem. It was a simple melanoma — if ever the words simple and melanoma can be linked in a single sentence. With its removal, she was told she was cancer free, and for 18 months of regular testing, it seemed she was.

But in the spring of 2023 came the prognosis anyone would dread. This time, she was told she had metastatic melanoma, a serious advanced stage of skin cancer. “I’m in the fight of my life,” she said at the time, sharing the news with family and friends. “I thought it was a death sentence,” she now says.

She wasn’t being dramatic. Metastatic melanoma means the skin cancer that was diagnosed in 2021 and seemed cured back then had returned with a vengeance. Cancer cells were traveling through her body, carried by the lymph system and blood. She feared the life she had — with a wonderful family, close friends and colleagues — would be lost, and the immediate future was bleak.

Her oncologist put her on two medications aimed at shrinking tumors. Side effects were difficult, so the doctor cut back to a single medication. The remaining medication turned out to have the desired effect.

It has, unfortunately, had two side affects with which Ms. Dunning has must cope. She is now a Type 1 diabetic, but is benefiting from Ozempic, which is generally prescribed for Type 2 diabetes, and has also been hailed as a weight loss drug. That’s something Ms. Dunning hopes doesn’t happen, since she’s thinner than she needs to be without losing more weight.

A second side effect has been therapy-induced arthritis that finds her experiencing stiffness and pain. Nonetheless, she deals with these negatives with the same grace and determination that has served her through the cancer treatments.

One thing she has demanded of herself is that each day, she will get dressed and climb down the 13 steps from the bedroom. What keeps her going at difficult times are memories of her mother, who succumbed to another type of cancer. She said her mother never complained. “If she could do it, I could do it,” Ms. Dunning said.

Anyone who know her knows says she has never put herself first. In large and small ways, she always has supported others. It is just who she is.

Ms. Dunning wants everyone to know she will be forever grateful for the support and prayers she has received. She found out how many people care about her, love her and have been there for her and the family.

She would find flowers, wrapped gifts — many from friends, but some from people she didn’t know. For months, her family didn’t have to cope with meals, because there was a constant delivery of food.

Husband Kevin had been enlisted at the start to follow his wife’s directions in cooking, but thanks to the community, he got a respite and the family ate well. “He’s a trooper,” Ms. Dunning said. On her Facebook page she referred to him as her “One true love.”

There were other weapons that helped her cope through difficult days, among them spirituality, which led her to meditation. “I just have a way of being positive with everything,” she said. Still, she admits she worries about a recurrence, but doesn’t let it dominate her thoughts. For now, she’s winning, and has every intention of continuing on the road to improved health.

Her advice to others is simple — slather yourself with sunscreen and get checked regularly by a dermatologist. Having grown up spending summers at the beach, she would be the first to say not to be the sun worshiper she was.

For anyone fighting this or other serious illnesses, Ms. Dunning advises, “Don’t ever give up. Think as positively as possible.”