By Vivian Shipe
KNOXVILLE, TN — They are survivors who see themselves in a different light.
Having gone through their own private cancer battle, they have emerged stronger, bolder, and wiser, willing to share their testimony to help others coming behind them. As they came into the offices of CONNECT Ministries, they introduced themselves, Shelley, 22-year survivor, Diane, 11-year survivor, and the unstoppable Lynn Williams, an African American woman whose been cancer-free for thirty years.
In 2023, it has been estimated that over 297,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed before the year ends. On average, every 2 minutes, a woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer. For Back women in America, the mortality rate is 40 percent higher than that of any other racial group. It is these and other “after the cancer “ facts that Lynn Williams works to share with other women, a member of a club no one wants to join.
Williams has a powerful testimony and she shares it publicly with several goals: to let women know they are not alone, they are not damaged goods, and they can get through the hard times and live again.
To share her testimony, Williams joined in the Comfort for the Journey, basket project sponsored by I AM The Voice of the Voiceless, ETHRA/ETAAAD, and CONNECT Ministries creating over 50 baskets.
The baskets were filled with items suggested by other women survivors. Each one was uniquely different, as along with inspirational books from local authors like survivor Ronni Chandler, there were journals, handmade prayer shawls, socks, drink koozies, brochures of resources, and a personal letter from Lynn Williams, telling her story of diagnosis, the battle against people pushing her to abortion, the loss of one breast, but the ability to breast feed with the other.
The tall attractive woman now 70, mesmerized the group of volunteers who had come together from across the community to fill and wrap the baskets as she told her story of tragedy to triumph.
Williams not only wants women to know there is life after cancer, she wants to pull them out self exile post cancer explaining, “There are so many women that we have no idea that are going through this alone. Sometimes they can be sitting right next to you.”
Williams continued, “Projects like this basket event are an opportunity to share ourselves, and let them know we are here for them, especially Black women who have already experienced disparities in health care.”
Williams also spent time speaking on the importance of preventative health care such as the importance of keeping all vaccinations up to date.
As she folded the afghan she had made by hand especially for a young mother who recently had breast surgery, she slid a copy of her testimony into the basket, having written her contact information on the paper.
The baskets will be delivered through several local organizations. Among the organizations are the BELLA Cancer Foundation, W.O.W. Women of Wisdom , GPT cancer support group, and The Cancer Support Society of East Tennessee
Others, like the basket so lovingly packed by Lynn Williams, will be hand delivered.
