A Lesson in Legacy

From left: Brianne Arkison, assistant dean of development; Deb Guittard; Shannon Scott, ’06 PhD, dean

Jenny Guittard, ’00 BScN, first attended nursing school as a baby, sometimes accompanying her mom, Deb Guittard, ’80 BScN, to class on her hip. Twenty years later, Jenny followed in her mom’s footsteps and established a career that she loved as a registered nurse working at the Cross Cancer Institute’s outpatient clinic.

Jenny was starkly aware of what lay ahead when she received a Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis in February 2023. Despite her prognosis, she chose to seek joy daily — golfing, travelling and getting married

“I don’t know of anybody else who could have responded the way she did,” says Deb.

Jenny extended her passion for teaching by documenting her cancer treatment on Instagram. Her posts, from scientific explanations of medications and procedures to tips on coping with post-chemo hair loss, gained the attention of cancer patients and their families around the world. Jenny lived fully amid terminal illness.

Weeks before passing in March 2024, Jenny expressed her wish to create a scholarship for U of A nursing students. This August, her family hosted a golf tournament fundraiser that raised more than $68,000 to establish the Jenny Guittard Memorial Award to support undergraduates interested in oncology — a field Jenny described as happy and hopeful.

“Nursing was her identity and she wanted to make sure somebody else had that opportunity,” Deb says. “I am beyond proud of my daughter.”