Survivor Palau Contestant Battles Advanced Breast Cancer

Survivor Palau contestant Jenn Lyon (33) has started a four- to six-month course of chemotherapy to treat breast cancer with which she was diagnosed a few months ago.

Jenn had a modified, radical bilateral mastectomy on 29 August this year to remove both breasts and 29 lymph nodes. Reconstructive surgery (involving saline implants) followed in October.

Breast Cancer Warning signs
Jenn first felt something in her right breast in mid-2004. She had had her breasts enlarged six years before and thought that what she felt was only scar tissue.

But a year later, she felt another lump in the centre of her breast and something in her right armpit. A mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy confirmed stage III (advanced) breast cancer.

Once she has completed chemotherapy, she will start taking tamoxifen - a powerful drug which aims to starve breast cancer cells of the hormone oestrogen, which they need in order to grow.

In an interview with PEOPLE magazine, Jenn said that being on Survivor has helped her cope. "Coby Archa, the Texas hairdresser who was in my Survivor tribe, offered to shave my head for me - and to shave his too. Survivor taught me there's an end in sight. As hard as it is, it will be over, and you have to appreciate every day," she said.