About

The Who, the What and the Why-

Picture of me covering a Carolina Panthers game, most likely fall of 1997. I think the photo was taken by a talented photographer Ricky Moon.

Who? My name is Jessica Mann. I am 46 years old, married to a Ginger Brit with one dog and no children, living in the University town of Oxford, England.

I have a charmed life.

My family is incredible. They support every idea and desire of mine from wanting a puppy to dance lessons and my unorthodox employment as a professional photographer.

I’m not even one of those photographers with a good income like a portrait, baby or wedding photographer. I’m one that likes the action. I want to be in the middle of everything and I’m not that bothered about pay, although I like spending money so I really should.

I’m a press photographer and I love it.

More recently I added editing to my job description. I now get to work with photographers far more talented than I am and help them get their pictures printed in national newspapers, glossy magazines, online and broadcast around the world.

What? This newsletter/blog/journal is an easy way to update my friends and extended family with what is going on in my life. I’ll be posting pictures, sharing anecdotes, and babbling about anything that I consider important.

I hope it will be short, quirky, informative and maybe a little entertaining.

Why? On March 22nd, 2018 I was diagnosed with Clear Cell Cancer of the Ovaries.

Clear Cell Cancer of the Ovaries is rare (<5% of Ovarian Cancer), aggressive, fast growing and not fed by hormones like Estrogen. If you want to read more about it and understand med-speak then click here. http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/content/11/10/1089.full

Selfie from the Muddy Dog Challenge, May 2017. Roxie is not that impressed.

 

That diagnosis came back after a week of septicemia in January 2018, a repeat of sepsis in February 2018 and a severe ‘debulking’ surgery in the beginning of March. The surgery removed a 18cmx10cmx18cm tumor that was over 3.5kg from my abdomen along with 950ml of random fluid and all my reproductive organs, leaving me with a really nice scar down my middle. Who needs tattoos?

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”
– Cecil Beaton