By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – If you are looking for the faces of optimism, look no further than Fred and Christal Jenneman.
While most people view catastrophic illnesses as something that will affect “someone else,” Fred and Christal have been dealt a hand of challenges that most people would collapse under.
Now married 33 years and living in their dream home on Bayou Liberty Road, an eye-catching dome house that was built there after Hurricane Katrina flooded their original home with 7-feet of water, challenge number one arrived five years ago when Fred was diagnosed with multiple myloma–bone marrow cancer.
“They told us he will never be cured of it, but he can extend his life for many years with a bone marrow transplant,” Christal said. “We’re hoping for that in the next couple of months.”
While preparing for Fred to be healthy enough for the transplant, originally scheduled for January of 2016, Christal went in for a mammogram earlier this year, already concerned about a lump she felt in a breast self-exam.
“I was pretty sure there was a problem,” Christal said.
Even though the mammogram didn’t confirm a problem, a follow-up ultrasound revealed breast cancer, leading to a double mastectomy in June. Christal is almost recovered enough from the surgery to begin 52-weeks of chemotherapy that will sideline her all of 2016.
But there was still more to test the Slidell couple.
“The Saturday before Thanksgiving I was sitting on the sofa and felt my chest start hurting,” Fred said. “I began to sweat like a fool so the kids ran me to the emergency room and we found out I was having a heart attack.”
Back-to-back-to-back challenges like this for any couple would be more than most could handle, but Fred and Christal said it has been the great support of family and friends that helps them remain optimistic.
“We don’t look at any of this and think about dying,” Fred said. “We only talk about how long it will take to get better.”
The couple said it has been their four daughters and a son who are providing the most strength, bolstered by friends who also have helped the pair survive and keep a positive attitude through it all.
“Attitude is such a big part of it,” Fred added. “But it’s been our family and friends who help so much. This kind of thing really shows you who your friends are and who you can count on.”
Of course, there are still things to worry about and as is usually the case, money is first and foremost.
“Even if you have insurance you can’t imagine the things you need extra money for when this kind of thing happens,” Christal said. “We are paying the bills, but I’m very worried about 2016 when I will not be able to work any longer and will probably lose my insurance, not to mention the loss of income from working.”
Fred, 66, is drawing Social Security and Christal, 63, had to take early Social Security, meaning she is only getting a partial amount of what she might have otherwise drawn in total retirement. She is on disability for now, but expects that to run out in January. Fred has worked for years with the Stage Hands Union, but is completely sidelined at this time.
However, the couple doesn’t beg or cry about the financial end of things, still supporting their favorite charities that Fred, a Vietnam veteran, always wanted to help.
“My dad still sends $5 to charities like the Wounded Warriors, Special Olympics and some others,” one daughter said. “He still wants to help other people even though he and my mom are up against it.”
Fred is originally from Chalmette and joined the Navy in 1968 to serve in the Vietnam War, while Christal grew up on the North Shore, attended St. Scholastica in Covington, before going to Southeastern and studying theater.
The couple met on a blind date set up by a friend of Fred’s family and the couple hit it off right away, dating a year before marrying in Sept., 1982. They came to the North Shore to live on the Bayou Liberty property, previously owned by Christal’s grandmother.
Fred went in for a routine checkup five years ago, but knew there was a problem when he was called back to review blood work that showed elevated protein levels.
“I learned from medical shows that it meant you might have cancer so I already had an idea about it when I knew the protein was high,” he said. “I was always healthy in most ways, only having a problem being anemic. So in that respect, it was surprising to find out I had cancer.”
Christal said it was a self-exam that found the lump in her breast, something that became important since the mammogram earlier in 2015 didn’t show cancer.
“They scheduled an ultrasound with the mammogram just because of what I had found,” she said. “It really showed me how important it is for women to do self-exams.”
Knowing her husband already had cancer left her very surprised to realize they would fight the disease together.
“With Fred already having cancer I was shocked to find out I had cancer too,” Christal added. “Then when he had a heart attack also it was so hard. I cried a lot of tears.”
Fred said the hardest thing now is that they have to lean on friends and family instead of each other.
“In a marriage a couple supports each other. When one is having a hard time they can lean on the other,” he said.
“To see us both with cancer, and then the heart attack too, we just have to laugh about it sometimes,” Christal added. “The heart attack really set me back—it was one more hurdle.
“But we don’t look at any of this and talk about not making it through,” she said. “We view it as having a tough year coming ahead in 2016, and then by 2017 we can breathe again.”
The five children are all in the area and range in age from 27 to 39, meaning there is plenty of help around.
“The kids have been so great,” Fred said. “That’s what gets you through it—the family. They check on us all the time, text us every day—some days are good and some not so good—but we have our family and that’s where we get our strength.”
Friends have set up a Go Fund Me account online, or anyone who wants to help for what will be a difficult 2016 can mail checks to: Fred Jenneman, 34297 Hwy. 433, Slidell, La., 70458.