Weston Mayor Jennifer McClure-Spurgeon, a native of Elgin, poses for a photo with her care team as she goes through her cancer treatment.

WESTON — Weston Mayor Jennifer McClure-Spurgeon is battling cancer, again, and she’s taking the battle to the internet, sharing her deeply personal journey to tell a story about what she calls an insidious disease.

The daughter of longtime Union County Commissioner Steve McClure and an Elgin native, McClure-Spurgeon was diagnosed with cervical cancer a month after taking office as a Weston City Council member in 2013.

“Do you think that was an omen?” McClure-Spurgeon said.

A few months after her diagnosis she had surgery — and then another surgery to address complications from the first operation four weeks later. McClure-Spurgeon said she recovered and had five years of good health — serving on city council, raising children and working alongside her husband in both their real estate appraisal business and as a leadership trainer and consultant.

In late 2018, she started having abdominal pain. A colonoscopy revealed another tumor.

Given the way the cancer returned, McClure-Spurgeon said, it appears when the original tumor was removed, cells were released into her abdominal cavity, eventually forming another tumor that pushed against her colon. She is going through chemo, again, to shrink a tumor on her liver that is so overtaxed, bile salts are coming out through her skin.

She said her kidneys are compromised, too, from the chemotherapy. But, for now, it’s the chemo that will keep her alive. At this point, McClure-Spurgeon said, she is traveling to the University of Washington Medical Center every three weeks for palliative care.

“I went to Tri-Cities for chemo last time,” McClure-Spurgeon said. “The reason I chose Seattle this time is because my liver and kidney numbers are so in flux — if there are any sudden changes, the doctors there are used to seeing strange things all the time.”

McClure-Spurgeon said the chemo is supposed to make her feel better by the second week of treatment. Right now, though, she said her pain is a steady “7” on a scale of 1 to 10. Her ability to eat depends on how well her liver is functioning. She said her appetite comes and goes, and with the aid of anti-nausea medication she is able to eat small portions.

She’s also fighting fatigue, weakness and dizziness.

“It is such an extent going to the bathroom I almost pass out going back to bed,” she said.

Despite the struggle, she is able to maintain her job as mayor, working over the phone and going into city hall to sign checks. McClure-Spurgeon said the council has been a big help and thanks to a well-defined list of priorities, the city has been able to tackle its to-do list.

“We have some pretty cut-and-dried plans for what is happening over the next year or two,” she said.

Battling cancer can become an educational experience — for the patient and the family. McClure-Spurgeon said she started writing everything down in a notebook when she was going through chemo treatments in Tri-Cities.

“I’ve written down every blood draw since we started this crazy odyssey,” McClure-Spurgeon said. “The nice thing about having my husband at appointments is he can remember all the questions we talked through and pick up the slack where I may have forgotten.”

Mostly homebound and with a fragile immune system, McClure-Spurgeon said even her grandchildren and daughter, who live down the street, can’t visit her if they have a cold or cough. To keep people up-to-date on her status, this last go-around with cancer treatment she is documenting on the Internet.

“I went public with this second round on Facebook, posting video feeds every week so people have a way to talk through what’s happening,” she said.

Besides breaking through her isolation with social media, McClure-Spurgeon said her leadership training taught her that one of our life’s purposes is to add value to others.

“Major illnesses are such a drain on family and resources,” she said. “It is a comfort that I was adding value while going through something so horrible.”