Jenny Chen is, according to her friends, one of the funniest women in Ottawa.
A passionate community advocate, Chen loves to make people laugh.
So, when the Ottawa Cancer Foundation reached out to her to participate in Laugh For The Cure, Chen took up the challenge. She will join four other Ottawans on stage on Thursday, March 26, to deliver a five-minute amateur standup comedy routine to help raise money for cancer research.
So far, Chen has raised more than $22,000 for the Ottawa Cancer Foundation, the largest sum out of the other amateur standup comedians.
“I think I’m the funniest person I know, but I’m not, like, standup funny,” she said, excitedly.
“I have a video crying on the internet because I was so overwhelmed with gratitude. We have donations now and support from all of our friends and network from all over North America. We had a donation come in from our friend in Madrid, so it just goes to show you the power of community.
“We’re really, really grateful, and we hope to get to $30,000 in this last push with the friends in our hospitality business across the city.”
The fundraiser is also very personal for Chen.
Her husband, Dan MacMillan, was diagnosed with Stage 4 small lymphocytic lymphoma in 2020, an incurable cancer found mostly in the lymph nodes.
MacMillan is in remission now, and he still receives a checkup every six months.
But Chen remembers how isolating and emotional being a caregiver can be. The Ottawa Cancer Foundation was a lifesaver because it provided them with psychological and financial resources as they navigated through the health-care system, she said.
“I proposed to him halfway through his chemo because I didn’t trust anybody else to give him the best rest of his life possible,” she said.
“We are still in a world where people who get diagnosed with chronic illnesses navigate their journey alone because they don’t want to be treated differently. It is very traumatizing.
“A lot of people don’t share it. My husband didn’t share it for the first little bit until I actually asked him to share it with someone else so that I could have someone to lean on. It’s a very lonely journey for people.”
Despite the challenges of cancer care, MacMillan and Chen found ways to bring joy and happiness to their lives. One of their favourite ways to spend time together was visiting local businesses in the ByWard Market.
“There would be three days after chemotherapy where he would be feeling really low, so I would take him out and we’d go explore all the patios that were open, all of the restaurants that were open, just for like two hours, right where cancer wasn’t consuming our life,” Chen said.
“These are the restaurants that really carried us, and they carry each and every single person in this city quietly without sometimes the recognition and the visibility of the things that they do for us.”
Now, as Chen reaches her fundraising goal, those small businesses are rallying behind her.
Tim MacLeod, general manager of Sussex and Co., developed a cocktail called “The Jenny” in honour of Chen’s and MacMillan’s journey. It is a clarified margarita, which is a bit richer, smoother and softer on the palette compared with a traditional margarita.
All proceeds from the cocktail sales will be donated to Chen’s fundraiser, MacLeod said.
“Not a single one of us doesn’t have some experience with cancer. Supporting a good causes is the easiest decision anyone ever has to make,” he told the Ottawa Citizen.
“Jenny is our biggest cheerleader, and we love her a lot. We’ll move mountains to help her.”
Pat Nicastro, owner of La Bottega Nicastro, will be donating a portion of sandwich sales until March 26 to Chen’s fundraiser.
“Jenny’s been spearheading so many charities and good things for the city, so, when she asked (to partner with) us, it was a no-brainer. Cancer has hit everybody. It affected my family very closely, both my mother and father,” he said.
“She’s been a supporter of small businesses also, which really helps. As a small business, we get asked every single day to donate something, so you have to pick and choose which causes to support, and this one was a sure yes.”
Chen says she is grateful for the help and support she’s received so far from business owners across the city and hopes she can bring more laughter to Ottawans.
“In life’s darkest moments, and we live in a really dark world right now. Laughter and joy is really a social activity, and that’s where hope lives,” she said.
“This (fundraiser) was also my way of saying ‘thank you’ to our small businesses.”
Jenny Chen, a passionate community advocate, is raising money for the Ottawa Cancer Foundation. She partnered with local businesses like La Bottega Nicastro and Sussex and Co. to help her inch closer to her $30,000 goal.
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