By Sheri Denkensohn-Trott
The Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund (TDJBCF) hosted its Annual Thanksgiving Celebration support group meeting Wednesday, November 20, 2024, and once again focused on disability. This year’s theme “Breast Cancer at the Intersection of Disability and Advocacy” recognized that fighters and survivors of breast cancer are placed in a unique position having to advocate for themselves as well as systemic change for those with disabilities.
TDJBCF Founder Thelma D. Jones, a 17-year breast cancer thriver and advocate, is a leader in supporting the needs of individuals with disabilities and has devoted her November breast cancer support group meetings to this topic for approximately six years by bringing in top disability advocates and thought leaders as speakers.
What inspires Jones to focus on this important, but often overlooked issue? Her lived experience. Jones’ late younger sister was spinal cord injured for 24 years resulting in quadriplegia. At a time when the disability rights movement was in its early days, Jones’ sister was a groundbreaking advocate and served as a gubernatorial appointment on North Carolina’s Statewide Independent Living Council with Jones providing a range of administrative support. Founder Jones also works closely with the author (TDJBCF Ambassador Sheri Denkensohn-Trott), a 13-year breast cancer survivor and quadriplegic of 40 years because of a diving accident at age 16.
The meeting was sponsored for the third year by Mallory & Associates, a management consulting firm led by Mamie Mallory, a disability advocate, SW resident, and member of the TDJBCF Board of Directors. Outstanding participants included Emcee/Moderator Vovanti Jones, MD, Associate Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Missouri, Medical Director of Stroke Rehabilitation at Rusk Rehabilitation Hospital (Columbia, MO); The Rev. Cara Rockhill, Interim Rector, St. Augustine Episcopal Church; Kimberly Beer, Senior Director, Public Policy & Advocacy, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation; Community Partner, Niani D. Booker, Founder and CEO, Legacy of Hope DC; this author Sheri Denkensohn-Trott, JD, Advocate and TDJBCF Ambassador, Co-founder, Happy on Wheels, LLC; Guest Speaker The Rt. Rev. Paula E. Clark, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, and the Rev. Dr. Beryl Dennis, Author and Beryl Dennis Ministries, LLC.
Broadcast via Zoom and Facebook Live, the meeting represented six states—Missouri, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia—and the District of Columbia.
The Rev. Cara Rockhill provided the opening blessing, stating how thankful she is to have Ms. Jones, a “force of nature” as a member of her church. Rev. Rockhill shared that Jones provided support when she learned that her aunt had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
After Jones warmly welcomed the group, Emcee Vovanti Jones, in her role as a physician with a disability, gave key insights. Dr. Jones was a panelist at last year’s TDJBCF November meeting, and her leadership in her field is a testament to the determination of individuals with disabilities striving and thriving in their professional lives. She stressed the importance of understanding the differences in disability and how as a society we need to focus on how to overcome the challenges such individuals face in different settings.
Ms. Kimberly Beer heralded TDJBCF Founder Jones for her commitment to disability-related issues, specifically breast cancer. Their six-year collaboration, even prior to Beer joining the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, has brought critical partners together. Kim encouraged everyone to see the documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (now available on streaming services), released on the 20th anniversary of his spinal cord injury. The documentary explores his life as an athlete, actor, and father before his injury and his life afterwards leading to advocacy in partnership with his wife Dana and is a testament to their work to build a more accessible and inclusive world.
In this author’s remarks, TDJBCF Ambassador Sheri Denkensohn-Trott shared her experience and that of other women with disabilities not receiving quality treatment and screening, including mammography, by medical professionals. “We need to work as a community to ensure that newly issued federal regulations that require entities to have accessible mammography, exam tables, and scales, are enforced.” This author and her husband Tony, who also has a disability, co-founded Happy on Wheels, LLC, to inspire others, with and without disabilities, to live happier lives through motivational speaking, writing, mentoring, and consulting.
The keynote address by Bishop Paula E. Clark, entitled “The Long Haul” sent a powerful message to all participants about what it is like in her words to be “differently abled.” Although elected in December 2020, she moved from Washington to Chicago expecting to begin serving. On an ordinary day, she was working out in LA Fitness and sustained an Arterial Intravenous Rupture resulting in a brain bleed. She went through great trauma, multiple surgeries and now has a condition that is called an arterial venous malformation. She is in physical therapy and the most visible sign of her “differently abled” condition is her speech. She told the group that her greatest obstacle in serving 170 parishes and 31,000 parishioners is not that she’s the first African American and female Bishop, but the first with a disability. She views this as an opportunity to educate and lift those living with diverse disabilities. She stated, “I am going to talk about this, or else people will not know and will not understand. I have become an advocate just by the position I hold.”
Admitting that she has faced discrimination as a black woman throughout her life and that only 4% of the Episcopal Church is comprised of African Americans, she talked about the elephant in the room. As a woman of faith, she explained that her theology recognizes that individuals come from brokenness. The journey of a long haul is not easy but looking for the light that we carry naturally, and to give it and receive it is a gift. She praised TDJBCF for focusing on disability and encouraged the organization to keep up its work.
Bishop Clark’s speech was then followed by a robust question and answer session that afforded the audience a greater opportunity to learn about how she courageously faces personal and professional challenges because of her disability.
The closing blessing was given by The Rev. Dr. Beryl Dennis, author, breast cancer survivor, advocate, and founder of Beryl Dennis Ministries, LLC. She is a regular participant since 2016 in the TDJBCF support group meetings.
Sheri Denkensohn-Trott is a breast cancer survivor, advocate, TDJBCF Ambassador, retired federal government attorney, and the co-founder of Happy on Wheels, LLC.