Jenny Young’s endless curiosity and passion for travel have led her from the sacred temples of Japan to the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.
Since 2020, Young — a Governance and Control Specialist at TD — has traveled to Italy, France, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos.
Her stamina and enthusiasm for travel are impressive considering she is living with stage 4 cancer.
Young, who's been at the Bank for 25 years, noticed her health beginning to falter a few months before her wedding in 2019.
During early morning shifts at the Bank, she noticed her vision would go blurry if she stared at her computer screen too long. She chalked it up to lack of sleep, combined with the exhaustion of wedding planning — until she noticed people’s faces were starting to go blurry too.
Assuming something was wrong with her vision, Young went to the eye doctor and left with a prescription for glasses.
But while on her honeymoon in Egypt in 2019, Young awoke from a nap and felt her face twitching uncontrollably. When it stopped, one side of her face had begun to droop. That’s when she knew something was wrong.
A few days later, she started slurring her speech.
Not wanting to miss out on the remaining two weeks of her honeymoon, Young opted to tough it out and enjoy the rest of her trip. But the minute Young and her husband arrived back in Canada, they dropped off their suitcases at home and drove straight to the emergency room.
At the hospital, the doctor couldn’t seem to find anything wrong with Young, until she mentioned her blurry vision. The doctor immediately sent her to get an MRI scan, which revealed multiple tumours in her brain.
“I just froze. I remember feeling numb. I had no idea what was going to happen to me,” she said.
A stage 4 cancer diagnosis
Within 24 hours, Young had gone from being a healthy young woman to being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
“I was having a lot of seizures, so they gave me a bed and put me on steroids right away to help with the inflammation of the brain. Those couple of days were such a blur,” she said.
“Between the jet lag and the condition I was in, I was sleeping most of the time. I’m really lucky the doctor sent me for that MRI because if I had been sent home, I would have only lived another four to six weeks.”
After a full-body CT scan and brain biopsy, doctors determined Young’s cancer had originated in her lungs — a lucky break because it gave her more treatment options than if it had originated in the brain.
Her oncologists at Princess Margaret Hospital Cancer Centre opted to put Young on an experimental course of Gamma Knife radiation to shrink the tumours before pursuing surgery to remove them. Within a week of stepping foot into the ER, Young was on the operating table having brain surgery.
Raising funds for cancer research
Six years out from her initial diagnosis, Young feels grateful she was given the chance to live.
“It's amazing how stage 4 cancer feels the way I feel now. I’m living proof that surviving cancer is no miracle — it’s all the funding and donations that go into making the research happen,” Young said.
She was eager to support the organization that let her continue her life. This year, she joined her colleagues to fundraise for the Princess Margaret Ride to Conquer Cancer.
The team Young supported raised $249,165, plus an additional $10,000 from TD through the TD Team Matching Grant Program.
Jenny Le, Associate Manager, Social Impact at TD, said the Team Matching Grant Program is a way to encourage colleagues to get involved in their communities.
“It’s a really great way for colleagues to support causes they care about and unlock more funds for their charity of choice,” she said.
As part of the program, a TD team with a minimum of six colleagues could receive a funding match up to $2,500, while a larger team with more than 500 colleagues could receive up to $20,000. In 2024, 41 team matching grants were dispersed, for a total of more than $200,000.
“The program can help colleagues to scale their impact by having TD contribute funds to support a colleague’s charity of choice,” she said.
Young said she feels overwhelmed by the amount of support she’s received as a TD colleague living with cancer, which has included being able to work a flexible schedule so she can make it to doctor appointments.
“Honestly, it's just an incredible feeling to work for a company that actually is so supportive,” Young said. “Working together, we can all make a difference.”
Fundraising that contributes to improving quality of life
The money that volunteers fundraise for Princess Maragaret Foundation has had a direct impact on Young's quality of life, she said.
Two years ago, Young’s cancer spread to her neck, and she was placed in another clinical trial by Princess Margaret Hospital.
“It’s innovations like this that give me more time to enjoy traveling and spend more time with the people that I love,” she said.
“I know that there's no cure for cancer, so the only thing I have to cling onto is the knowledge that when the treatment I’m on today stops working, I have many more options. I have been told by my oncologist that two years ago there were only three options for me to try and now the list of treatments is two pages long. It’s a huge relief.”
Earlier this year, Young participated in the Walk to Conquer Cancer, which spans 21 kilometres across Toronto.
This time, Young wasn’t just fundraising — she was an active participant.
“I was shocked at how good I felt,” she said.
After the five-hour walk, she came home and did yard work, then went out later that evening.
“I woke up the next day feeling fine. I thought I was out of shape, but I can’t be that out of shape,” she said.