Tracy Tilmon-Jackson isn’t used to being stopped in her tracks.
In late 2011, Tilmon-Jackson had just come home from a FEMA deployment – she works as a public assistance tech crew lead on various disasters – and was cleaning the house when it felt as if something had hit her in the chest, straight on.
“Because I grew up with boys, I know what it feels like,” jokes the 45-year-old wife and mother of three. “I staggered, and when I caught my chest, my daughter insisted we go to the hospital. I didn’t have insurance, so resisted, but I did call my doctor.”
Tilmon-Jackson had a bruise on her chest, something she had never had in the past.
“There it was, right on top,” she remembers.
Her doctor didn’t want to make any conclusions until they ran the required tests. Tilmon-Jackson told him about the location of the bruise, and that it was visible just beneath the skin. Because it was so close to the surface of the skin, if it was cancerous, it could spread. This much he knew.
Tilmon-Jackson then called St. John Providence, on the east side where she had delivered her baby. Because of her lack of insurance, the hospital told Tilmon-Jackson they couldn’t work with her. She called Karmanos Cancer Institute but got the same message. She then called St. John back. The same woman she had just spoken to, Jennifer Valenti, manager of breast imaging at the health system, answered the phone again.
“I needed to find out what was going on,” Tilmon-Jackson says.
Valenti invited her to come to get tested. The tumor was growing rapidly.
“It wasn’t what I wanted to hear,” she says. “That one phone call changed my whole life.”
Her exchange that October was followed by an appointment in January. Within four months, Tilmon-Jackson was diagnosed. “It was stage 2 and progressing,” she says.
A lot of what happened next had to do with Tilmon-Jackson’s strong faith.
“I had to turn to God and say, you are the maker, this is your body,” she says. “I need you to help me clean it up. This thing was moving faster than I knew, and my head was spinning, but I needed God to aid me in moving forward.”
Her chemotherapy treatment started immediately, and she was reassured at the same time that the heart pain she had felt a few months prior is common. Heart pain can often present itself with the onset of breast cancer, especially for women of color.
Tilmon-Jackson also learned that the surgery she’d undergo would not be a lumpectomy, as she thought: Her surgeon said a mastectomy was necessary on her left breast, and that the cancer had spread into her right one significantly.
Tilmon-Jackson made a tough decision.
“I told her to take both breasts,” she says. “I didn’t want to walk around that way.”
Chemotherapy continued from January to August in order to shrink the tissue and stunt its growth. Surgery then followed in September – a double mastectomy – and the start of radiation treatment in October.
Cancer free to date Tilmon-Jackson feels she has healed, but not entirely. And she doesn’t consider herself to be a survivor.
“I am a cancer conqueror,” she says. Helping to heal others is now her goal.
Her nonprofit, Cancer Conquerors, launched this year, supplies women who have undergone breast cancer surgery with affordable, stylish, and comfortable bras. The line of lumpectomy wear is called LeeAngels Garments and Manufacturing DBA Sleek and Sexy. LeeAngel is Tilmon-Jackson’s middle name and now her daughter’s as well.
Tilmon-Jackson received her paperwork in January cementing her status as a 501c3. She is now honing her mission statement, looking into foundations to help with funding, and contacting physicians and churches to spread the word.
“My goal is to change the undergarments women have to choose from,” she says.
The ones Tilmon-Jackson received weren’t stylish or comfortable at all, not in the colors she wanted, and didn’t fit the way she wanted. Tilmon-Jackson wants to develop an entire line of slips, camisoles, panties and more.
“I want to bring the real sexy back,” she says, laughing.
Most insurance companies, at least in Tilmon-Jackson’s experience, cover only two to four bras per year for each patient. That wasn’t good enough for her.
“Women need a lot after they’ve had a mastectomy,” she says. “There is a psychological response to this that goes much deeper.”
Tilmon-Jackson’s goal is to get into mainstream stores as well. “I want to be in the places where we really like to go shop,” she says.
Tilmon-Jackson’s first bra is set to hit stores in July.
Alongside her entrepreneurial work, Tilmon-Jackson has had the chance to carry her message to cancer patients in other ways as well. She participates in the St. John Providence Breast Cancer Climb, an annual event that takes place each June where participants climb a mountain and raise money while doing so. This year, climbers will venture to New York State and climb to an elevation of 9,000 feet.
“We do have fun, but it represents the journey that people have to go through as well,” she says.
In September of 2015, Tilmon-Jackson was a guest speaker at an awards ceremony at the Renaissance Center honoring Anthony Soave and the Soave family. In 2014, the Soaves donated $1 million to start the Anthony L. Soave Family Mobile Mammography and Health Screening Program at St. John Providence Hospital.
Tony Soave, a lifelong Detroiter and head of Soave Enterprises, was alarmed at the rising rates of breast cancer deaths in the city’s neighborhoods. The state-of-the-art facilities would bring life-saving breast care services to scores of uninsured, underinsured and low-income women in Detroit who otherwise may not be able to get to a hospital or clinic. It may offer the first mammogram some women have ever had.
After her speech, Tilmon-Jackson presented Soave with an award for his philanthropic efforts
“I thanked him for making it convenient for women to get tested. He also made it possible to get funding if you don’t have it,” she says.
Tilmon-Jackson found it no less than a wonderful platform on which to speak. “When I was going through my treatment, there were no young women my age. I felt like I was by myself,” she says.
Her gratitude is now something she carries on to others. “What better business can you have than helping people? When you’ve been blessed, you’ve got to bless others,” she says.
You can reach Tracy Tilmon-Jackson by calling 313-205-4786.
Editor’s Note: This small business feature is sponsored by Bank of America.
To learn more about Bank of America’s many programs and resources for small business owners visit: https://www.bankofamerica.com/smallbusiness/business-financing.go
Enterprising entrepreneur creates sexy clothing line for breast cancer survivors added by Cindi Cook on
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