Modesto councilwoman announces cancer may have returned. She plans to keep working
Modesto Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer said she is undergoing a new course of chemotherapy because her doctors are concerned about a spot on her right lung.
Kenoyer, 86, said this comes after she had been cancer free for about a couple of years.
She said in a Wednesday interview that a routine PET scan from a few months ago showed changes in the spot’s color, and doctors thought it could be cancer. She said the spot had been on her lung since her initial cancer diagnosis about three years ago and doctors had not been concerned about it until now.
She said she is scheduled to undergo her second round of chemotherapy Friday. She is getting chemotherapy every three weeks.
Kenoyer said this is not the same chemotherapy she underwent when she first had lung cancer in 2018. This chemotherapy gives her fatigue and impairs her balance, she said, but other than using a cane, she is maintaining her normal schedule.
She announced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that her cancer may have returned. She said elected officials have a duty to let their constituents know about anything that could affect their performance.
“I still have enough energy to keep doing my work,” Kenoyer said at the meeting. She said she was not asking for sympathy but would appreciate prayers.
Mayor Sue Zwahlen thanked Kenoyer for her update and wished her well. Other council members joined in wishing Kenoyer well.
Kenoyer, a retired registered nurse, smoked for 24 years before quitting several decades ago.
She announced she had lung cancer in September 2018 after doctors discovered a small mass. She underwent treatment and announced in August 2019 she was cancer free. But Kenoyer said in her Wednesday interview that she continued chemotherapy until April of this year.
Kenoyer is finishing her second term in office, which ends in November 2022.
