When Santiago Canyon College President Jeannie G. Kim went in for her COVID-postponed routine mammogram in December 2021, the results launched her into an unexpected fight for her life. It was a breast cancer treatment journey that not only reaffirmed her deep appreciation for Orange County’s health care community but also renewed her passion for providing accessible pathways for students into the medical professions.
Biopsy testing in January 2022 revealed that Kim was BRCA2 positive and had a Stage 3 aggressive form of breast cancer, a discovery that prompted neoadjuvant chemotherapy, a course of treatment used to shrink the tumor prior to surgery. Her diagnosis, at age 55, was not the first time cancer had affected her family. Her father died from pancreatic cancer at the same age, one of several family members who have battled the disease.
Not one to back down from a fight, Kim began chemotherapy treatment in spring 2022 at Hoag Hospital, first with anthramycin followed by Taxol. But after just one dose of the Taxol, her body developed violent side effects. She was immediately admitted to the hospital with excruciating pain, a high fever and a rapid onset of sepsis.
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“I found myself in the ICU on Mother’s Day of 2022, fighting for my life,” Kim said. “I could not breathe, my lungs were shutting down and the doctors didn’t know why this was happening.”
By Mother’s Day night, Kim could no longer breathe on her own. The medical team, which included her oncologist, a pulmonologist, a cardiologist and a number of specialists and internists, had never seen a case like it. Time was not on her side, and the doctors gave her 48 hours to live.
Kim contacted her brother, and with a DNR and end-of-life care in place, he took over his sister’s medical decision-making. Kim also has a nonverbal, special needs adult son, as well as two daughters who were away at college at the time. One was completing her final exams at UC Santa Cruz and the other was preparing to graduate from the University of Minnesota.
Monday came and Kim was on six broad-spectrum antibiotics simultaneously, in addition to fentanyl and morphine for her fever and uncontrolled pain. Her daughters flew in from college to be by her side and were the only two allowed in the room due to COVID-19 protocols.
Based on input from an anesthesiologist friend, Kim believed that her severe symptoms were being caused by a very rare allergy to Taxol, a reaction that only occurs in 0.5% of the population that receives the drug. The treatment called for high doses of steroids, a risky plan given that the doctors weren’t sure of the source of her lung infection.
That evening, Kim experienced something she can only describe as a spiritual event during which she could feel God’s power healing her in the midst of a battle between life and death.
“I had some very strange dreams, and I felt God’s hand actually healing me,” Kim said. “I felt this power where his hand was over my lungs, and I could feel the energy coming through. … It was a very strange kind of experience. I could feel the powers fighting … and the next day, I started to recover.”
With only a 50/50 chance of success, the doctors started Kim on the steroid treatment on Tuesday morning, and she began to make a miraculous recovery. After 10 days in the hospital, she was released, and on June 1, 2022, she had a double mastectomy plus reconstruction surgery. Today, she is two years cancer-free.
Kim approached her cancer treatment journey with the attitude that she wasn’t going to let it win, and as such, she spent much of 2022 not only fighting for her life but also pursuing a new position in higher education. In January 2023, she took over as president at SCC, and her focus on providing medical occupation pathways comes not just from wanting to be of service but from personal experience. She feels SCC is uniquely positioned to provide opportunities for those who are seeking to be a part of the health profession, and if voters approve a bond measure that is on the ballot this November, the college has plans to build new facilities that support this mission.
“Orange is a place where hope continues because of the care that the medical community provides, and I personally experienced that,” Kim said. “And so, while I believe in miracles, God uses people in order to be able to make some of these miracles come to complete fruition.”
Kim also credits the community support that came alongside her during her cancer fight. She, along with Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee John Hanna’s wife Cynthia, who herself is a breast cancer survivor, will walk with SCC’s soccer team in the Susan G. Komen 2024 More Than Pink Walk this month.
“It gives me comfort in knowing that our students care in that manner,” Kim said. “They’re not just getting academically educated. They are being educated from the heart via their student experiences by experiencing life together.”
