Shore woman has tackled brain surgery and marathons. Now she's taking on NBC's 'Password'

She's won "A NEW CAR!!!" on "The Price Is Right." She's overcome brain surgery. She's written children's books because she wanted to see her little girls represented. She's been featured on a magazine cover after gritting through a marathon where she finished last.

And Jackie Galgey's newest adventure?

The Atlantic Highlands woman tackled NBC's game show "Password."

"I always try to live my authentic self and do things that I feel are challenging, but are fun, and will make my daughters proud and make me feel good," she said.

The story behind the marathon?

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Her daughter had just turned one and she wanted to take on the challenge of returning to running, especially since the run, the 2016 Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C. Marathon, took place near where she had grown up.

"(The finish) was so funny, because I was still so happy, and it happened to be on my birthday. When I walked to the finish line, they started singing 'Happy Birthday' to me. It was just such a wonderful experience. You can do hard things − sometimes you don't want to − but there's nothing that you can't accomplish if you put your mind to it," she said.

The 'Password' experience

Galgey appears on an episode of "Password" that airs Tuesday night, alongside ongoing celebrity contestant Jimmy Fallon and Olympian Lindsey Vonn. The show is hosted by Keke Palmer.

Two contestants − each paired with a celebrity partner − compete in word association guessing games in the reboot of this iconic game show that originally aired in the 1960s and '70s.

Galgey's episode was filmed last November in Los Angeles, after an audition process that spanned the writers' strike and involved multiple rounds, mock games, interviews and more.

More: NJ nurse takes improbable journey to 'The Price Is Right'

She decided to audition because she remembers loving the original version, hosted by Allen Ludden, on which his wife Betty White was a frequent celebrity partner.

After she found out she was going to be on the show, she started training hard − playing the game on her iPhone incessantly, watching old episodes online and beefing up her reading to work on vocabulary.

But there's nothing like the real deal, she says.

"When the lights are up, it's like 'oh my gosh, this is real.' You get on stage and you're looking at the clues and you're like, 'oh my god, do I even know the right clue to give?'"

She said then she would look to her partner and be reassured.

"Jimmy is such a great 'Password' player. He's so good with his voice, he's so good with his expression. And Lindsey is in the zone. She's an Olympian, so you know she's got the focus," Galgey said. "It was really great to play with someone who you could tell were just rooting for both of us. It was a really, genuinely lovely experience."

She'll watch the episode air live with a viewing party in Atlantic Highlands.

Gwen and Gabby books

Galgey took up writing children's books when she was laid off from a job at Twitter in 2022. Her husband is originally from Ireland, and her two young daughters are biracial. She said she would look for books featuring biracial characters for them.

"Most of the books that I found about biracial kids were about, 'oh, I'm biracial, my hair is curly' or 'my skin is a little different.' And I was like, 'what about books for kids where it's about them doing awesome things, and they can see themselves represented in books, having adventures, learning lessons along the way, with a family that is representative of them?'"

She decided to create them herself, and launched a series featuring kids named after her daughters, Gwen and Gabby.

"It's pictures of myself and my husband animated in there," Galgey said. "So other kids can see like, 'oh, that family looks like mine.' But it's still about adventures. It's not about being different. It's just about being badass and wonderful."

Galgey's "Gwen and Gabby" books are available at Amazon.com and via her website, jackiegalgey.com.

Watch 'Password'

Galgey says she planned to donate a portion of any winnings to the Facial Pain Association.

She was diagnosed with the painful nerve condition trigeminal neuralgia in 2019 and recently underwent successful brain surgery to treat it, which she said feeds into her positive spirit and love of life. The Facial Pain Association does research on the rare condition.

"I wanted to make sure that, no matter what, I was trying to make a difference," she said.

Galgey's episode of "Password" airs on NBC at 10 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, July 23. Episodes are available to stream on Peacock the following day.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jackie Galgey of Atlantic Highlands is a contestant on NBC's Passoword