Interview by Tiffany Palmer September 3, 2024

1) What inspired you to start JHR Breast Cancer Foundation?

“In 2017, I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer that was discovered during my routine mammogram. I was treated with Chemotherapy and had a double mastectomy. I recognized the importance of early detection because that was what saved me. After 5 years of being cancer-free, I thought that I could also save my brother and sisters in my community by bringing awareness about early-stage hence the launch of JHR Breast Cancer Foundation.”

2) Can you share your vision and mission for the foundation?

“Motivated by my experience with breast cancer, my vision and mission aim to support people, especially women. I know cancer affects all of us in some way or another, so my mission is to support men and women in our community spiritually, emotionally, and most of all to bring cancer awareness to the community. After going through my ordeal with cancer, I recognized that I was saved because of early detection. I prioritize educating the people within my community on early detection of cancer because I think proactive screening is one of the best ways to treat or prevent cancer.”

3) How has your professional experience with cancer influence the direction of the foundation?

“I am a hairdresser by trade, so I’m always serving people. It is within my nature to help. In starting this foundation, I have partnered with cancer care. Cancer Care provides resources for women who have experienced cancer. They opened my eyes to the power of helping people obtain wigs. When I lose my hair, I know I lose my confidence. I realized having hair helps a woman walk with confidence, as opposed to how we feel sometimes when we lose our hair. If we voluntarily cut off our hair, it’s a different feeling from when you lose your hair from cancer. People have volunteered wigs to the foundation, and if we know anyone going through cancer who needs a wig, then we would provide them with a wig donated by another organization. We will also direct them to Cancer Care, which provides wigs and prosthetics for women.”

4) What are some of the challenges you faced when starting the foundation?

“When I started this foundation, my passion was to help, but I didn’t know … where to start. I did not have the financials, resources, or enough information. Therefore, I started going to other community forums. I remember going to one community forum where there was a cancer survivor and caregiver’s workshop. They had asked if there were any other organizations there, and as a new organization not knowing where to turn, I introduced myself and stated my mission. I didn’t know that there were representatives from the Connecticut Department of Public Health in the audience. They reached out to me after the event, and they told me how much they loved my mission and how much they would love to work with me. We exchanged emails, and they helped connect me with some wonderful people who have directed me and have continued to work with me ever since then. Public Health provides me with the educational resources and the connections that I will need to carry out the mission of the foundation effectively. The Public Health Department has an early detection program that runs through 3 major hospitals in our community here in the Greater Hartford area. We work with Hartford Hospital, Trinity Health of New England, and UConn. Whenever we have workshops that relate to public health, they provide the educational resources.”

5) How do you engage with the community to raise awareness about cancer?

“Since we have launched our foundation and partnered with the public health department, every year we have at least 5 events. We have hosted 4 so far this year:

a) We like to give support to survivors and caregivers. We kicked off the year by hosting a support group for cancer survivors and caregivers. It was very well supported; we had 60 people in attendance. We had a good time, everyone talked about their journey. We had a professional clinician on board who is also building a network within the community since these are professionals who are in the community and are willing to support our foundation.

b) Our second event touched on self-care, which is very important. I think that most of the time if we take charge of our health, then we can also lower our risk of having this disease. We had a workshop where medical professionals touched on cardiovascular disease and Breast Cancer education and focused more on the density of the breast as many don’t understand what it means to have dense breasts. We had an oncologist from Hartford Health Care who came on board and educated us that evening on breast density. We had a cardiologist who came and educated us on heart health and how diets can be a contributing factor to developing some of these diseases. We also brought on a nutritionist because diet and exercise are two key factors in lowering the risk of this disease. We also had over 60 people in attendance.

c) Our third event was men’s health. We had prostate screening and breast education, and we were able to screen a few men. Hartford Healthcare came on board with us, and they invited Quest Lab who came out and did the screening by PSA testing.

d) For our most recent event on August 10th, we had a community health fair on the Trinity Church parking lot. We had 11 vendors working with us: namely Hartford Health Care came with their mobile monogram bus, and we had 15 women sign up for screening with 13 being able to get screened that day. We screened 2 men for prostate cancer, we also screened for blood pressure and cholesterol. We had Trinity Health of New England with a lot of educational resources on breast cancer and prostate cancer.”

6) How do you measure the impact of your foundation’s work in the community?

“The impact on community connection has been great. Every Saturday morning, people team up and go jogging. This is not only helping them physically, but mentally because when they are walking, they are bonding with each other. As the bonds grow deeper, I think we can only get better.”

7) What other organizations, healthcare providers, or researchers in the field of cancer would you like to partner with in the future?

“I wish we could get some support from other organizations, especially as we try to establish ourselves. The need is in the community, but we lack the resources. We are looking to partner with banks or insurance companies and any other foundations that will help to move the organization forward.”

8) Can you share some insights on the Annual JHR Cancer Awareness Foundation Ball?

"The ball is a celebration of all the workshops that we have done throughout the year. This is our biggest event to celebrate all the work we have done. The anniversary banquet is for those who passed from cancer - we memorialize them, and for those who are fighting right now – we cheer them on. The event will be held at the West Hartford Town Hall Conference Center, 50 Main St, West Hartford on Saturday, October 5th with Guest Speaker Dr. Scheuster Christie.  I was lucky to have him as my surgeon, and I am pleased to have Dr. Christie as our Guest Speaker for this year’s event”

9) What has been the most rewarding aspect of your journey with the foundation?

“The most rewarding aspect of the foundation for me is getting women to screen for breast cancer for the first time. Some of these are women in their 50s and 60s who have never had a mammogram. By having these workshops and spreading awareness in the community, I see people putting in the effort now to get screening. I think a lot of people were avoiding being screened based on what they fear. But I am a survivor telling them my story of how my cancer was found during a routine mammogram. I want them to know if they do their mammogram every year then if something comes up, they will be better able to treat it because it would be in the early stages. People are having a change of thought after conversations at my foundation ball.”

10) If you could change one thing about how cancer awareness is approached today, what would it be?

“I would want the resources that are out to be more accessible and educational. People should know that there are programs in which they can get the screening done even if they do not have insurance. Many people stay away from medical appointments because of a lack of insurance, and I have found that a lot of women have never screened because they don’t have insurance. This is one of the ways our foundation is helping. With the support of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, we are identifying and leading people to where they can find these kinds of resources. We are promoting more education about the programs because although there are opportunities in the hospitals, people are not accessing them because of the lack of information.”