So later she got the results of a subsequent test. I thought it was the shoes I’d been wearing, or arthritis, low calcium or low potassium,” she narrates. When I got back my left leg was painful and swollen – 1 and ½ inches bigger. That Easter Holiday I travelled to ushago with my two children balancing on my two legs. I went to the clinic and got some painkillers to ease the pain. “I woke up one day with muscle pulls on both legs. They surely make for a happy warm home that Janet loves to ‘fly’ to. They exude that cute a little-shy-about-new-attention sweetness, trying to witness the events behind their mothers dress. The pregnancies were pretty easy and the two munchkins – Peter and Jasmine, ever so sweet, became. They clicked, and five years later they started their happily ever after. She met Ikua after one of her Phoenix theatre shows.

So alongside TV, she doubles up as Pampers’ brand ambassador. Pampers recognized her as the most ideal mum to communicate their virtues. She was then absorbed into NTV – lighting the screen with shows like Out & About – the travel show, some news anchoring and now The Property Show. And for the love of teaching, she hit the theatres and starred in a number of plays…teaching the society through art. “I have a Bachelors degree in Education – Home Economics from Kenyatta University – oh I love teaching!” She chimes. Actually they are amplified in the heat of trouble. It is now clear that ‘happy’ is everywhere – in the dungeons, in joblessness, in lack, under the migraines…Just lift the issue and you find it there. Then divulging the details eloquently, passionately and with humour! Her fight against lung cancer is feisty and inspiring. There is something about someone saying what they really feel when in a precarious situation.

Seeing her from this perspective amplifies what I thought of her to the millionth power. This is after a stint of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) whose cause remained elusive until September 13, this year, when the news of the ‘C’ word was broken to her and her husband. You may now be aware that she is off the screen after being diagnosed with lung cancer Stage Four – and is receiving her chemotherapy in India. She is obviously smart – always having a word for whichever expression. She has the looks that make you pause while surfing through the channels.

Janet kanini ikuna