Jennifer Lyon Finishes 5–year Battle With Breast Cancer

Jennifer Lyon Photo © Getty Images/Fernando Leon

Jennifer Lyon, 37, a contestant on Survivor: Palau, has passed away after a five-year fight with breast cancer. Lyon finished the reality TV show in fourth place, but kept many friends among the other contestants. The show wrapped up in May 2005, and in August of that year, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. She had noticed a breast lump as early as the summer of 2004, when she was just 33, but since she had no health insurance, and the lump wasn't changing, she let it go.

Lyon had worked as a nanny, a tough job in itself, but said that, "Survivor has helped me in every sense of the word." Through her double mastectomy and reconstruction, her older sister Kim and Survivor alumni stood by her, Coby Archa even shaving his head in solidary with her, knowing her hair would be lost to chemotherapy.

Fellow contestant, Ian Rosenberger said, ""Through the chemo, the surgery, medications, and the months of waiting, and then the hoping, and the letdowns, and then the real sickness and the pain, where others get depressed, self-piteous, and dark, where others may give up hope, Jenn sparkled." About 18 months after chemo, her cancer spread to the bones of her spine. While still enduring treatment for the metastatic cancer, she raised awareness and funds for the Susan Love Cancer Research Foundation, a breast cancer charity. Her spirit lives on in the memories of those who cheered her on from their TV sets and who worked with her in person.