Life’s permanent blessing

The figurine is the image of a small, tow-headed girl, boxing glove-bedecked hands raised above her head. The inscription underneath: “Life is worth fighting for.”

It was a gift from then 26-year-old Jenny Meyer to her mother, shortly after Meyer was diagnosed in 2000 with breast cancer.

Meyer’s eight-year fight ended on June 5, but the living she did in the ensuing years and the love she gave to her husband and 7-year-old daughter left a permanent blessing on her family and friends.

Meyer’s mother, Carrie Jacobson, described her daughter as a happy child who enjoyed everything she did, fully embracing life.

“I never remember her coming to me saying, ‘I’m bored. I don’t know what to do,’ ” Jacobson said.

College summers Jacobson worked jobs including monitoring birds of prey near Boise and working at a Wyoming fish hatchery. As college wrapped up, Meyer fell in love with her high school friend, Jeff Meyer. The two married.

A high school classmate produced a film about Jenny Meyer in 2006 called “Jenny’s Journal.”

Meyer found out she had cancer shortly before she discovered she was pregnant. Despite concerns that it might not be possible, Meyer carried baby Grace to full term. One of Meyer’s major goals was to take Grace to her first day of kindergarten.

Not only was she able to do that, but she also saw many more school days and other activities with her daughter and husband.

Meyer documented the ups and downs in her family and her cancer battle on her blog, “Mangy Moose Acres.”

A recent entry described seeing Grace score her first soccer goal.

It was just a week before Meyer was hospitalized for the final time, but nothing would keep her from the game, Jacobson said.

“That’s just Jenny. She even hid from us very well how much she was wrestling with the pain,” Jacobson said. “She knew it was advancing. She tried to keep things as normal as possible for both Grace and Jeff. Things were tougher than she was letting on.”

Leaving Grace and her husband behind was Jenny Meyer’s greatest concern, Jacobson said.

“The whole blog story is just so interesting because Jenny is such a private person, but she shared so much in those blogs,” Jacobson said. “I think God laid on her heart that this experience had a purpose and she was trying to fulfill that purpose.”

In a prescient moment just two weeks before her death, Meyer wrote on her blog about the beauty of local cemeteries decorated over Memorial Day and about those who have died.

“It can be sad, but we know that they’re in a better place right now… watching over us,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, death is something we will all come up against, but it’s nothing to fear. We are going to be reunited with those that we love.”