Jennifer Demetrius (left) and husband Kenneth at their home in Mount Airy, St Andrew. Jennifer has cancer of the sinus, while Kenneth wears an artificial heart valve. The couple is struggling to cope with the financial strain of their illnesses. - Ian Allen/Photographer

THE STORY of Jennifer and Kenneth Demetrius is one of hardship and struggle over 19 years that stretches the imagination.

The couple has been fighting two deadly diseases for most of their relationship, but they remain steadfast in love and devotion, not only to each other, but also to their creator.

Their troubles began about 1990, two years after they met and while Jennifer was pregnant with their daughter, Sarah.

"I started having very bad nose bleeds regularly, with this heavy breathing," Jennifer told The Sunday Gleaner during an interview at their home in Mount Airy, St Andrew, her voice, muffled and nasal from a severe deformation of her face, the effect of a recent surgery.

At first doctors could not identify what was wrong with the 30-year-old woman.

cancer of the sinus cavity

After giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Jennifer went back for more tests, including a biopsy, which confirmed that she had cancer of the sinus cavity - a very rare form of cancer that affects about 2,000 people each year in the United States.

The diagnosis was the beginning of Jennifer and Kenneth's problems.

Due to the rarity of the disease and a lack of suitable equipment, doctors found it difficult to treat the cancer. This was compounded by the fact that the illness was also expensive to treat.

Jennifer was forced to leave her job with the Citco Coffee Develop-ment Board, where she worked as an assistant in the nursery.

In 1992, she gave her life to God and started visiting the Mount James Seventh-day Adventist Church, also in rural St Andrew. She and Kenneth were baptised.

The couple also made their union official by getting married, although there were whispers and questions as to why Kenneth would marry a woman so severely ill.

Following radiotherapy in 1994, doctors opened up Jennifer's face, only to discover that the cancer had spread so far that there was nothing they could do.

"They close up back my face and send me home," she told The Sunday Gleaner. "The doctor told me that I wasn't going to live, but I continued to pray," Jennifer added.

Just a few years later, while Jennifer continued to fight the deadly cancer, her husband also fell ill. "Doctors said it was ulcer and put me on medication," Kenneth said. "But the medicine for the ulcer make me feel worse. Me start feel terrible pain," he added.

heart enlarged

Further tests revealed that the 33-year-old's heart had become enlarged. His heart problem had become so severe that a mitral valve had to be replaced.

They stood by each other, even though sickness threatened to tear them apart.

Kenneth had successful surgery and now has an artificial heart valve. He was forced to leave his job as a farmer, also with Citco, due to the frailty of his heart.

In the meantime, Jennifer met a doctor at the Kingston Public Hospital who referred her to a specialist at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).

Finally, she was told that due to advancees in technology, it was possible to remove the cancer.

But before she could get help, the cancer started growing wildly. The lumps grew so big that they were protruding through her nostrils. "I had to wear a plaster over the face and dress it every morning because there was this big red lump on my face," she said.

Kenneth interjected: "It spread go to her ear, eye, the roof of her mouth, cheeks, so they have to remove all of that."

In November 2008, after struggling with the disease for almost 19 years, doctors at the UHWI operated on Jennifer, successfully removing the cancerous masses.

However, the surgery has left her face severely deformed, with her nose, cheeks and upper lip mere fragments of what they used to be. Her face has sunk into a hole, which has left her almost unrecognisable to anyone who might have known her 19 years ago.

Due to her deformity, Jennifer no longer leaves her house - not even to church - unless she is heading to the clinic.

laughing and talking

"Sometimes I sit and look at myself in the glass and I get sad, because I know I never born like this," she said. "I'm afraid of people looking at me and laughing and talking."

Jennifer now needs to undergo facial reconstructive surgery, which is estimated to cost about $1.6 million.

The couple's church family has come to their rescue and is planning a concert on September 26 to raise money towards the procedure.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com

If you would like to make donations to Jennifer Demetrius' reconstructive surgery, contact the Mount James Seventh-day Adventist Beneficiary - Scotia Bank account #: 926148.