"The Little Couple" Star Jen Arnold Survived An Aggressive Cancer And Shares What Helped Her Pull Through
LIFESTYLE
"The Little Couple" Star Jen Arnold Survived An Aggressive Cancer And Shares What Helped Her Pull Through
25 K
Dr. Jennifer Arnold and her husband, Bill Klein, the stars of the hit reality show The Little People, produced by TLC, are doing fine now. In 2017, the couple decided to move from Texas to Florida with their two children, as Jen received a job offer in the Sunshine State. Things seemed to go on as usual, but just a few years ago, the family went through the biggest trial in their lives: Jen’s cancer battle.
Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock.com
Back in October 2013, Jen and Bill went to India to take their newly adopted daughter home. Jen had a sudden bleeding, but she had no idea what it was at the time. She had to return to Houston, while Bill stayed in India to complete paperwork.
Upon returning home, Jen learned she had a rare cancer, choriocarcinoma, which had already progressed to stage 3 and spread to the lungs. The cancer developed as a result of Jennifer’s unsuccessful pregnancy.
Dr. Arnold was treated at the same hospital where she worked as a neonatologist at the time – at Texas Children Hospital in Houston. She underwent hysterectomy and several rounds of chemotherapy. Jen’s doctors were initially hesitant to make a prognosis, as the cancer was aggressive and it was difficult to get chemo dosage right, given Jen’s skeletal dysplasia (known to most people as dwarfism). But Jennifer is as tough as they come – she fought bravely and beat the disease. She is officially cancer-free since February 2014.
Of course, the fight against cancer wasn’t a walk in the park. Here’s how Dr. Arnold described her experience in an interview with CURE:
I definitely had more side effects than I expected from the chemotherapy. My oncologist had to dose me fairly high for the chemotherapy to work, and it was a little bit unknown what the dosing should be, given my stature. So I had the fatigue, the nausea, the vomiting, and obviously I lost all my hair.
But Jen pulled through, and it wasn’t just due to the treatment she received. Her husband Bill was there for her the whole time. He took it upon himself to take care of their kids and do chores, but most importantly, he gave his beloved wife the much-needed emotional support.
When asked by CURE for advice on getting through cancer, Jen said:
Great advice from my oncologist was to focus on saving my energy for the things that mattered. I did a lot less work — in fact, I didn’t work during the bulk of my chemotherapy treatment — but I saved my energy up, so that when I was home with my kids, we could do ring around the rosy. I got time with my kids that I wouldn’t otherwise have had. This was especially important to me as we had just brought my daughter home from India after completing her adoption and were in the transition phase. So, my best advice is to lean on those around you to help you with the stuff that maybe isn’t so important, such as cleaning up the house and making dinner, and focus on your relationships with your kids and your loved ones.
