Given her family’s history with cancer, Jody Vondra has made decisions that empower both her life and those around her.
The Crete, Nebraska, resident shares her story in a new book titled “The Country Road Perspective,” which chronicles how she navigated difficult roads related to her health, walked away from corporate life, founded her own company and became a staunch advocate of her own health journey.
“I was a slave to cancer without ever having it,” Vondra said, noting multiple family members who were diagnosed with the disease.
For years, the disease haunted her. In 2003, her older sister – 30 years old at the time – was diagnosed with breast cancer. “It was a completely unexpected diagnosis,” Vondra said. “We locked arms and walked that journey with her.”
Several years after her sister’s cancer diagnosis, doctors recommended her family consider genetic testing. They met with a genetics counselor to map out their family history: a paternal grandfather who died of colon cancer at 52, a paternal great grandmother and paternal aunt who each had breast cancer, along with a string of paternal great aunts and uncles with various types of cancer.
Vondra, her father and her sisters decided to complete genetic testing. The results? Vondra, her eldest sister and her father all tested positive for alterations in the Breast Cancer 2 (BRCA2) gene, which meant they were at a significantly increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, along with a slightly elevated risk of such cancers as pancreatic, stomach and melanoma. Vondra’s younger sister tested negative.
Vondra says while genetic testing was the right answer for her, she recommends others consult with a genetic counselor and primary care doctor before making the decision to test. “There is power in knowledge, and each person’s circumstances are unique,” she said.
Looking back, “I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop,” she said. “Now, I talk a lot about empowerment and perspective. We don’t have to be victims of cancer or have a diagnosis to be advocates for our own health. We can be empowered to be proactive and break the mental bondage of cancer.”
After several inconclusive screenings, Vondra took preventive, surgical steps to reduce her cancer risk, which also provided her freedom from the psychological weight of cancer, she said. “It was a burden carried silently.”
Today, she represents a community of previvors – individuals who have an elevated genetic cancer risk. “We have watched our loved ones battle the disease and dealt with our own cancer scares,” she writes in her book. “We have quietly battled the evils of cancer mentally and emotionally. We haven’t earned the badge of survivor and pray we never do.”
More than a decade after her preventive surgeries, during the COVID-19 pandemic, her dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a result of his BRCA2 mutation. The 73-year-old farmer, who she said “was always healthy,” died in January 2021, 2 1/2 weeks after his diagnosis.
After her father died, and amid fears she herself would get pancreatic cancer, Vondra said she renewed her commitment to be proactive. She decided to learn more about the disease and her risk, so she returned for another battery of tests and to plan a preventive course of action.
Her journey led her to nationally renowned oncologist, Kelsey Klute, MD, who is leading efforts to develop screening regimens for pancreatic cancer. Now, each spring, Vondra visits the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center for an annual screening regiment: blood draws, MRIs and an A1C test (as a sudden onset of diabetes can be a signal for a heightened risk of pancreatic cancer, she said). She also completes an annual dermatology screening and colonoscopy screening every five years.
She gives blood twice a year as part of a longitudinal study led by Dr. Klute, a Nebraska Medicine gastrointestinal medical oncologist and UNMC associate professor. The study, launched in 2019 and funded by the National Cancer Institute, is designed to study changes and/or blood markers to better detect and pioneer future treatments. More than 650 individuals are participating in the study (IRB No. 0335-18-FB). The study continues to recruit participants who have multiple family members affected by pancreatic cancer, carry a gene mutation associated with pancreatic cancer risk or have a family member diagnosed with pancreatic cancer before the age of 60. Participants can learn more at the Clinical Trials.Gov site and can reach the study team at 402-559-1577.
“It’s empowering,” Vondra said of her decision to undergo testing, but she acknowledges it’s a personal choice. “There’s a very logical side of ‘Why would you not do that (testing)?’ and another that says, ‘Do you really want to know?’ There’s not a right or wrong answer.”
Still, for researchers, the longitudinal information provided by Vondra and other study participants is “an absolute treasure,” Dr. Klute said. “We know that a fraction of people enrolled in the study will go on to develop pancreatic cancer. Having blood samples from the months and years leading up to the diagnosis is a powerful resource for scientists working to develop blood tests that could be used to screen for pancreatic cancer.”
Vondra will be 50 in December. She speaks highly of Dr. Klute and the team at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. “It’s been a very positive experience,” she said of her frequent visits to the med center. “You don’t have to have a disease to be an advocate for your health.”
While focusing on her health, Vondra stepped away from her role as senior vice president for customer advocacy and director of customer experience at Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops, which she held for a decade. Today, she leads Perspective Elevation LLC, which she founded to help individuals, teams and companies discover the best version of themselves.
“I know how I want to live the second half of my life – with purpose to empower others.”
There’s a lot here to love. Karen, fantastic job capturing and conveying this story.