JOHNS CREEK, GA — A Johns Creek police officer is receiving community support as his wife battles Stage 3a ovarian cancer, with at least $11,000 fundraised for the Cherokee County couple.
Alexander Hennessee’s wife, 37-year-old Ena Hennessee, has endured surgery and chemotherapy treatment since her diagnosis in early June, he told Patch Thursday.
The two have been married for nine years and had been seeing a physician about fertility, when they learned Ena Hennessee had cysts on her ovary. They were planning to have a child.
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Hennessee said the cysts were removed through surgery though the ovary seemed cancerous.
“It just didn’t seem real, but it was,” Hennessee said of his initial reaction to learning about the cancer. Ena Hennessee had never developed cancer prior to this year.
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A hysterectomy was scheduled for July, but Hennessee said the cancer’s quick spread triggered an early surgery last week.
His wife was in pain, and her lymph nodes were infected. The lymph nodes near her aorta had gotten too large. Her ovary had grown to the size of a grapefruit in a matter of two to three weeks, Hennessee said.
An emergency surgery was conducted, and Ena Hennessee subsequently began chemotherapy the next day. She was in the hospital from Wednesday to late Sunday night and was recovering as of Thursday.
She now has to experience six rounds of chemotherapy for 18 weeks, going to treatments once every three weeks due to the dosage amount.
To cope, the couple has turned to their love for fitness. Both are members of CrossFit Holly Springs.
“Those people are like family to us,” Hennessee said.
Hennessee said he is facing his wife’s cancer diagnosis “as well as I can.”
“I’m just going to be here and be as strong as I can for her,” he said.
Ena Hennessee is unable to continue working as a contract tattoo artist for Inksomnia, where she has been working for at least six years. Hennessee will take a leave of absence from the Johns Creek Police Department, where he has been employed since 2018.
Before Johns Creek, Hennesee worked for the Kennesaw Police Department and the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.
Hennessee said the funding raised through a GoFundMe will benefit medications for his wife, medical bills and any further care. As of Friday, the GoFundMe raised more than $11,000 of its $20,000 goal.
“There are people who need money more than us, and to know that people want to do that to make sure that we don’t have to go into savings, it’s very humbling,” Hennessee said of the donations. ” … I’ll never really thank you but thank you.”
Hennessee is originally from Savannah while Ena Hennessee is originally from Marietta. The couple plans to adopt a child.
To anyone currently battling cancer, Hennessee sends a word of encouragement.
“It’s easier to what if, so just take it one step at a time because, in the end, that’s all you can do,” he said. “Just keep moving forward and just focus on the next day, the next treatment and worry about what you can control.”
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