Taking Time....

After many prayers, much thought and consideration, I have decided to step back from social media for a while. My house has been sold, and we begin a new chapter in our lives.

 As we make the move to our new house in April, I need to place my focus on my family and the work involved with making our new house a home.

I will continue to work behind the scenes with the JillianHayes Foundation, and I will post our activities surrounding Melanoma Awareness.

The billboard for Caregivers has been paid for, thanks to all of your generous donations.THANK YOU for all of your help involved to make this happen! I will continue to accept photos through March 31. The billboard will be displayed sometime in May for Melanoma Awareness month. I'll post the dates and locations once I get that ironed out with the billboard company.

I’m not gone for long,  just taking some time needed to move through some important transitions. I can be reached via email at jemsforjilly@gmail.com

Thank you everyone for your continued love and support.

~Peace

I'm Tired. I Advocate. I Stand. Together....

I don’t know how this stuff happens, but it does. As I prepare for my day, God puts things in my head. My heart begins to race, my hands start to shake. I’m brought to a place that can’t be ignored. He won’t let it go.

Seriously, I’ve learned to listen.  

As I read though some of the posts on face book this morning, I discover that two more people have died from this disease. And this is just from people I’ve been in contact with though the melanoma community. One person dies in the US from melanoma every hour. Every hour! And lives are changed forever. Melanoma not only effects the person holding the cancer card, it effects those around them too. Their family, their friends. The caregivers. From that first heart stopping phone call forward, life switches gears abruptly for the rest of their lives. 

I am currently working on a billboard targeted toward young people that use tanning beds in preparation for spring break and prom. The nagging thought today was that I need to do a billboard that focuses on caregivers. People that didn’t know the dangers of tanning before their loved ones were diagnosed. People that know now, but wish they would have known before that dreaded call.

These billboards cost money. I have been funding these billboards with the jewelry I was making. With everything that has happened in the last year, I have taken a break from making anything. I’m currently in the process of finding a new home, and I’ll be moving in April. Something had to give. So…I am asking for help. If you think this is a good idea for a billboard, please donate. There is a “donate” button on this blog page, and every dollar helps. If you would like to show the world that melanoma touches everyone involved, please send your photo to jemsforjilly@gmail.com

 Melanoma Awareness

We Know Now. Do YOU?

Thank you melanoma warriors. Thank you caregivers. Thank you family and friends. We WILL make a difference.

Peace~

Standing United with the AAD.....

Last evening, several amazing people, along with myself, were invited to participate in a conference call with the American Academy of Dermatology to discuss their upcoming plans for May, Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

As some of you remember from last year, the Academy’s Spot Orange campaign evoked high emotion. Let me rephrase that. We were livid. Appalled that orange was promoted as the color for melanoma cancer, and not the traditional melanoma cancer color, black. We embrace black.

The Academy responded to our concerns last night with “flying colors”.

“We are proud to say that we will be dedicating Melanoma Monday and the first week of May to melanoma awareness. We will support the melanoma community’s efforts to raise awareness with the color black by looking for opportunities to retweet and “like” your social media posts. Our call to action will be promoting a potentially life-changing behavior of early detection- how to SPOT Skin Cancer. We look forward to being a united front in educating the public about melanoma and other skin cancers”.

We all have the same goal. We all want to save lives, and we all want a cure for this devastating disease. Together, we really DO make a difference.

I'm so blessed to be a part of this melanoma community. A place of passion, dedication, support and love. 

~Peace