“The doctor came in and said ‘we’re going to have to take your eye’,” now 24 year old Jess Van Zeil tells Insight for the episode Cancer Sucks. “I was like, mmm, no, not happening.”
But that wasn't an option. “The doctor just kept saying ‘you won’t be talking to us in five years if you don’t do that’,” she says.
Eight months before this conversation Jess had been diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma which eventually spread to her lower eyelid.
Jess and one of her many eye patches. Photo: Supplied Source: Supplied
Jess’s initial protest to the operation was due to her concerns about the physical side effect. She thought no one would hire her in the health profession where she was hoping to work. “Who’s going to trust me if I look different? I’m going to have to be different forever.”
Jess was forced to accept that she was going to have to go through with this “drastic” surgery. “My life was going to change, I knew I was going to be different, everyone was always going to stare.”
But after losing her eye Jess decided to make something positive out of the situation – and regain control over what was happening.
So she decided to start wearing “very cool” eye patches. “I’m going to wear an eye patch but it’s not going to be the black pirate style.”
She set herself a mission to try and find eyepatches in a variety of colours and styles. “It’s a very visual side effect so for me there was no opportunity to sort of hide it or take it slowly.”
She started wearing eye patches and posting photos of herself on social media. “I figured the more people that knew about it the less would be questioning me about the side effect.”
Jess now has over a thousand followers on social media, she has her own blog and is a motivational speaker.
Catch up on the Cancer Sucks here:
[videocard video="1154986563835"]
