Twins Savannah and Bryson Martin got a huge surprise recently — their mother Jenna showed up to collect them from school.

The 40-year-old was diagnosed with ovarian cancer earlier this year and spent the past few months travelling between here and Boston for treatment.

She’s now home for good. A new oncologist at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital means she can do her last two rounds of chemotherapy here.

“Their jaws dropped when they saw me pull up,” Mrs Martin said. “They hadn’t seen me in three weeks and me coming home was a surprise. They were overjoyed. Since I’ve been home we’ve been trying to catch up on family time. During treatment I took up knitting as therapy, and now all Savannah wants to do is snuggle with me and try to knit.”

Mrs Martin has been treated at Dana Farber Cancer Institute since she was diagnosed in July.

“I haven’t met the new oncologist yet, but I don’t care,” she said. “I was to the point where I was like just give me the needle and IVs and I will do it myself, if I have to. I was so tired of the back and forth travelling. The worst part was not being with the kids. Family is number one to both my husband [John] and I.”

She said the disease made her re-evaluate her priorities.

The popular hairdresser would often stay at work until late to accommodate clients.

“Since being sick I have realised we are not here just to work, but also to live, have fun and enjoy family time,” she said. “I think Bermuda is the perfect place to keep the family-work life balance. I don’t think I was doing that before.”

She said that at one point she contemplated pulling her six-year-olds out of school so they could be in Boston with her.

“That was a bit extreme though,” she said.

This week the children have enjoyed swapping one-on-one time with their mother. Bryson likes to see her abdominal scar, and Savannah likes to touch her prickly hair, which is just starting to grow back.

Bryson has said he wants a “cool” haircut like hers; Savannah told her mummy: “I love rubbing your fuzzy head. I didn’t like your long hair anyway.”

Entering recovery mode has not been without its emotional ups and downs, Mrs Martin said. She was devastated to learn that surgeons couldn’t guarantee that she’d be cancer-free for life.

“The doctors say there is always that one per cent chance the cancer could reoccur,” she said. “One per cent is not a high chance, but still, I was so upset about this one per cent.”

She received comfort on this score from an unexpected source ­— Savannah’s dance teacher.

“The teacher came out and hugged me and said, ‘Jenna, I didn’t realise you had ovarian cancer. I had ovarian cancer 11 years ago and I’m still here’. That really made me feel better. I felt like we were meant to talk that day. It was just what I needed to hear.”

Mrs Martin has been keeping a blog of her experiences called Respect the O.

On November 20 she wrote: “This past summer my life changed and thankfully I am here to tell about the highs and lows as me, a wife, a mum, a daughter, an auntie, a sister, a sister-in-law and daughter-in-law. To all of you, I wouldn’t have been able to get through fighting cancer without the love, support, and prayers. To my loving husband ... I know that whatever challenges we face, through relying on each other it has strengthened our marriage and our faith in God.”

She said being sick brought her back into contact with her spirituality after a drift away from it.

“I have always believed in God,” she said, “but this brought me to my knees.”

To see her blog go to respecttheo.blogspot.com