How a breast cancer survivor’s family, therapy, meditation, diet rethink, and exercise kept her on the path to recovery

Medication allowed former fitness instructor Jennifer Maddox the mental space to meditate; meditation then improved her medication’s effectiveness, she says

‘I spent all my life caring and thinking about others. Cancer taught me to take care of myself without feeling guilty,’ Hong Kong-based Maddox says

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Jennifer Maddox at home in Tai Tam in Hong Kong. A breast cancer diagnosis helped change her perspective on life. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 7:45am, 8 Apr 2023Updated: 8:01am, 8 Apr 2023

Jennifer Maddox was enjoying a relaxing afternoon, reading on her Kindle that was balanced on her chest, when she felt a lump in her right breast.

She quickly scheduled a doctor’s appointment and had an ultrasound and a biopsy within the week.

“When the doctor’s office called … I knew that the news was not good,” says 51-year-old Maddox, who was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in March 2019.

“My first thought was, ‘How did I get cancer?’ I was a fitness trainer. I followed a healthy diet and exercised almost every day.”

Maddox in April 2019. She was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in March 2019. Photo: Jennifer Maddox

At the time she was an instructor of Jazzercise – a combination of dance, aerobics, strength and resistance training – and living in Los Angeles, in the US state of California, with her husband and three teenage children.

Tests showed she carried the BRCA2 gene mutation, which increases the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.