Mother & Daughter Survivors Treated for Breast Cancer One Year Apart, Inspired By Deceased Relative’s Fight…

Keisha Pooler, her mother Mary Marshall and Keisha's daughter

Keisha Pooler, her mother Mary Marshall and Keisha’s daughter

Hello World,

I could not let the month of October go by without acknowledging that this month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I lost two of my Delta line sisters to this hideous disease so this is a cause that is very dear to me. When another one of my sorors Keisha Pooler shared on Facebook that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and began posting pictures of herself at her chemotherapy treatments, I was inspired by her openness and bravery so I thought I would tell her story here. I hope her openness and bravery inspires you as they did me.

Jacquelyn Pullins aka Aunt Jackie

Jacquelyn Pullins aka Aunt Jackie

As an invincible and healthy college freshman at Morris Brown College in 1992 with nothing but time ahead of her, the last thing on on Keisha Pullins’ mind was breast cancer. But an arbitrary search for a pen in the lingerie drawer of her Aunt Jackie Pullins, who the Dublin, Georgia native lived with while enrolled in the Atlanta school, put her in the path of the deadly disease in a way that forever changed her trajectory. “I was digging in her drawer, trying to find a pen, and I ran across her prosthetic. It was shaped in foam and had a nipple on it.  I asked her, ‘Jackie, What is this?’ She said, ‘It’s a fake titty. What do you think it is?'” Her aunt’s clear-eyed, straightforward answer was representative of the sister relationship that Keisha had with her mother’s baby sister, who was in early 40s, who Keisha saw as mostly a sister but a sometime surrogate mother. Her Aunt Jackie also told her niece to not tell anyone as she did not want anyone to worry about her. However, Keisha was worried. “Her diagnosis changed my life. It was representative of something that could transfer into death in my home, in my family.” From then on, at the recommendation of her Aunt Jackie, who found the lump in her breast, Keisha began doing self-exams and has ever since. While Keisha kept her Aunt Jackie’s secret, her secret revealed itself when her aunt came home to Dublin several months later by the end of Keisha’s freshman year to go the the funeral of Keisha’s stepfather. “At the funeral, she became very ill so she started chemotherapy in Dublin. She never made it back to Atlanta.”

While Keisha continued at Morris Brown College, she returned to Dublin periodically to check on her Aunt Jackie and go with her to her chemotherapy treatments when she could. “She was not married, and she had no children so my sister and I were her kids.” After her treatment, her aunt went into remission for roughly four to five years but the cancer came back in 1997 or 1998. She was told she had months to live, but she didn’t want to go through chemotherapy again. Despite her prognosis, she didn’t pass away until 2001. During that time, however, she continued to live and deliver her deadpan humor. When Keisha asked her Aunt Jackie why she was adamant on getting a loan at one point, her Aunt Jackie replied, “Keisha, I’ll be dead before they get the money back.” “I remember thinking that in that moment, she was laughing and dying simultaneously.” However, there were serious moments too. Her aunt made her the beneficiary of her life insurance policies and showed her where to find all of her important documents. Although Keisha’s mother was her Aunt Jackie’s official caretaker, she felt like the then 25-year-old Keisha would be more responsible. “My Aunt Jackie was adamant about my mom getting a mammogram, but she never did. She always said she was scared to find out.”

Keisha and her husband at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on Saturday, October 24.

Keisha and her husband at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on Saturday, October 24. Their daughter is in the background.

In fact, Keisha’s mother, Mary Marshall, would not have a mammogram until she was 68 years old, in May 2013. It was recommended that she get a mammogram as part of a all full-body exam after she got sick with shingles. Keisha was concerned when her mother called her after her mammogram and told her that a biopsy was the next step. She called the medical center and asked about her mother’s results. “I said, ‘I know you’re limited in what information you can give, but do I need to make a trip to Dublin to see my mother?”’ She was told that she should come to Dublin so Keisha and her sister made the trip. The same doctor, Dr. Samson, who took care of her Aunt Jackie during her breast cancer treatment was the same doctor that told Keisha’s mother Mary Marshall in front of her daughters that she too had breast cancer. “My sister had to leave the room. I took out my pen and started taking notes and asking questions. My mom took a deep breath and said, ‘Okay, what do we do next?’ There were no tears. She was stoic.” She was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in June 2013, and six months of chemotherapy followed by four to six months of radiation was recommended for treatment. Mary Marshall says she cannot pinpoint exactly why she waited so long to have her first mammogram except to say that she saw what her sister went through and did not want that for herself. “I just put it out of my mind.” However, her sister’s example came back to her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “In my mind, I said, ‘I’m going to be strong like Jackie. ‘”

In fact, her sister’s strength inspired Mary Marshall so much that she urged her daughter to have a follow up exam after Keisha’s first mammogram at 40 years old revealed that she had some cysts that needed to be further evaluated. Keisha delayed making and keeping the appointment for roughly eight to nine months. While she spent spring break with her daughter in Atlanta earlier this year, she told her that she would not leave until Keisha made the appointment. “I had that feeling that she might follow in my footsteps so I said, ‘Keisha, have you gone?'” So Keisha made and kept her follow up

"The beautiful thing about breast cancer is that puts you in a sorority you never asked to be in."

“The beautiful thing about breast cancer is that it puts you in a sorority you never asked to be in.”

appointment. An ultrasound was done, and a more in-depth evaluation was recommended. She was told she get the results in a week. “I went about my life, but I felt like I was in a cloud like when you see a character in a Spike Lee film and their feet aren’t moving. It felt like I was floating,” says Keisha, who is an instructional coach at Maynard Jackson High School in Atlanta. When she got the call, she was at the school. The news wasn’t what she hoped for. “I stopped breathing for a second. I went outside and sat on one of the benches and took my legs up under me. I asked the doctor, ‘Am I going to die?’ He said, ‘I’m not telling you that is going to happen. Let’s take one thing at a time.” Keisha was reassured when her doctor told her he would be meeting with a team of medical professionals to immediately work on a treatment plan for her stage 1 breast cancer. She was also encouraged when he told her that not all breast cancers are the same as Keisha has borderline triple-negative breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy in June and started chemotherapy in July. Now, she is undergoing radiation. She did not hesitate to share her story on Facebook with her community of friends and has shared photographs throughout her treatment. “I’ve been given the gift of speaking and writing. I think I got it from my mother’s father who was a preacher. He was so influential in the community, and he was always being vocal. It something sits inside of me, it sickens me. And I feel like I am soldier on the front lines, and if I kept it to myself, I’m not only doing an injustice to myself but to Jehovah Jireh.”

After she was told about her diagnosis, she told the news to Marcus, her husband of 16 years. “He said, ‘We’re gonna kick cancer’s @$$! You’ve seen your mama. You’ve seen your aunt.'” The couple then told their 10-year-old daughter. Although her eyes were filled with tears, she said, “‘Okay, mama we got this!'” She gave me a high five, and she gave her daddy a high five.” Providentially it seems, after Keisha’s diagnosis, her husband broke his hand in a car accident and as result, he has had to recover at home with Keisha.  “I feel like I am a seed that was planted, but I was not meant to be buried, I am planted to bloom.”

Any thoughts?

Atlanta’s First Black First Lady Pens New Church for Churches…

Hello World, ms. bunnie jackson ransom

I wanted to end Women’s History Month by devoting today’s blog entry to an important woman in Atlanta history. That woman is Ms. Bunnie Jackson-Ransom, president and CEO of firstClass, Inc., a full-service public relations and marketing firm she founded in 1975. Her clients lengthy list of clients have included but are definitely not limited to: The National Conference of Black Mayors, Burger King Corporation, the Trumpet Awards,  The King Center, American Traffic Solutions, Jackmont Hospitality, Inc. and Edmond, Lindsay & Hoffler, LLC.

Ms. Jackson-Ransom has enjoyed a multifaceted career. While serving as president and owner of firstClass, she responded to a request to manage the careers of several performing artists; and from 1978 through 1988, she was the chief administrative officer of a conglomerate company under the umbrella of Atlanta Artists.   She began her career in the music industry after she had already distinguished herself as a business woman in the areas of education, government and public relations.  As president of Atlanta Artists Management, she was also responsible for the daily activities of Atlanta Artist Productions and Atlanta Artists Records, and managed the recording career of acts such as CAMEO and Larry Blackmon and The SOS Band.

Ms. Jackson-Ransom is a member of the National Council of Negro Women; Atlanta Association of Black Journalists; the Atlanta Branch of the NAACP; The Links, Inc.; the Metropolitan Atlanta Coalition of 100 Black Women.  She is also an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority where she served as past local chapter president and past chairman of the National Projects Committee. In the early 1970’s she served the City of Atlanta as its first black “First Lady” during her marriage to the late Mayor Maynard Jackson before they divorced in 1976. She is the proud mother of three daughters and one son. More recently, she is the grandmother of five. She is an active member of Cascade United Methodist Church. To read her complete biography, please go to her Ms. Jackson-Ransom’s website.

second editionMs. Jackson-Ransom is also the author of Getting The Word Out: How To Market Your Ministry: Communication Tools & Tactics You Need For Evangelism, which was originally published in 2010 but recently revised. Her book is the reason that I wanted to feature her on this blog.

 1. Why did you write Getting the Word Out?

I wrote this book because I had been doing public relations for churches for a long time. It started with a project that I did for Apostle Collette Gumby and a church called Green Pastures. She was doing a play called “King of Glory,” and I got excited about the play. I was working for Burger King. Burger King was a client, and my job was community affairs for Burger King. So I presented the project to Burger King. They liked it, and they became a sponsor for the church’s play. As a result of my working with Rev. Gumby, I found myself doing things for the church, press releases about the church, getting interviews for the church about the play and so forth and put that in my bucket of things I had done so to speak.

So when I joined Cascade United Methodist Church, the pastor there was Rev. Walter Kimbrough. He put me to work on doing some things for him like handling the project for his retirement and before the retirement, his anniversary. And I kept on doing work for my church. There was a need for someone to do the things that I was doing for the church. I finally said to Rev. Kimbrough, ‘I’m treating you like a client. You have a spot in my computer. You have a folder in my files. How about considering retaining my services?’ And he did. So I worked for the church for at least five or six years before he retired.

What I discovered was that I had a plan in my head for handling marketing for churches. It wasn’t that much different from the way one goes about handling marketing for any other organization or corporation. You have a product. The product has to be pushed out into the marketplace for use. And so I said this is a book.

2. Why is getting the word out important for churches?

If nobody knows that you are there, nobody will come. God is a master marketer. The reason I say that is because of Matthew 2:2. We saw a star in the east and have come to worship Him. That star is a billboard that God put in the sky. If the wise men hadn’t seen it, they would not have come to worship the baby Jesus. God has been marketing Christianity, and Jesus was a marketing person. He rode in cities with palms. That is like a parade.

And look at Romans 10: 14 . How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? This verse says to me, How can they do any of that if you don’t get the word out and compel them to come into God’s house. When you drive up and down Cascade Road, there are at least seven churches within a mile. What makes me go to church A and rather than church B? It’s marketing. It’s how you get the word out about your church.

3. I understand that you are also available to present your book as a workshop to churches.

Yes, several pastors have invited me to their churches. Pastor William Flippin of Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church in DeKalb County bought several copies of the book and gave them to his leadership team. He brought me in to do a session on the book, and then he took it a step further, he asked me to come back and do a session on crisis communications.  I just returned from a session in Little Rock, Arkansas with Pastor Ronnie Miller-Yow. He brought me in to do a seminar before several United Methodist churches from that district. I worked with Jeffries Cross Church in Burlington, North Carolina.

I have several plans that I offer churches. With one plan I just come in and do the seminar and another one, I do the seminar and help you start your communications committee. I leave the committee with job descriptions and help them develop a media database for the area that they are in, show them how to write a press release, or I can give the church the plan and come back in six months to see what you’ve done or you call me up and say, ‘Bunnie, I’ve written a press release, can you tweak it?’

4. Why did you revise the book?

It had holes in it. Social media happened. I didn’t give that much attention to it in the first book. I just mentioned it. Now I discuss about three or four platforms that would work for the church. And then I put in a chapter in it about crisis communications.

5. It seems that many churches are having crises. How should churches handle crises?

First of all, get ready for it, because the bigger you get, the more apt you are to have some kind of crisis. Whether it spills over into the media or not, that is irrelevant. If it spills over into the media, then you really have a public crisis, but there are some crises inside the pews that no one ever knows about but the church.

First of all, appoint a crisis committee. I mention the type of people who should be on that committee. If it’s a legal crisis, then you pull in your lawyer. But let’s say it is the kind of crisis that spills over into the media, you need to have a crisis go-to person. It doesn’t have to be the senior pastor, it could be the associate pastor. If you have a communications committee, it might be the chair of that committee. That is the person who calls the crisis team together.

Let’s say one of the deacons absconded with the collection plate. How do we fix this? We start talking to the congregation about the positive things that are going on in the church. If it’s in the media, talk about the positive the church is doing and give the media something else to talk about because if you don’t give the media something, they will do their job and report the story that they know about.

6. How did you get your start in public relations? good times

When Ernie Barnes asked for my help. He was the artist that did the paintings for J.J. on “Good Times.”  Ernie and I went to school together. I was married to the mayor and people would ask me to help them do things. So Ernie wanted to penetrate the Atlanta market and sell some paintings so I asked Ernie if he would do an exhibit and connect it to my (then) husband’s campaign to show that the Mayor Jackson campaign had a sensitivity for the arts.

So I went to the High Museum and asked if they would let us do something there with Ernie Barnes and the answer was no because they already had a schedule and we couldn’t fit in the schedule. So then I could found out that I could rent the lobby of the High Museum. So Ernie and I rented the lobby and we hung his paintings in the lobby. In the lobby, you could see his paintings on the way to Symphony Hall or going to the theatre or going anywhere there. We did a catalog of his paintings, and we hired someone to sit there. Well, Ernie sold out.

I took Ernie’s paintings to the president of the Coca-Cola Company who at that time was Paul Austin and asked if he would support the project and he did. Ernie did some paintings called the ‘The Beauty of the Ghetto.’ That was the exhibit was called and we donated prints to all of the boys and girls clubs in Atlanta. And we got Ernie on the front page of the Sunday section of the newspaper with some of his paintings. I asked Ernie how much would you have paid someone to do this. He said, ‘Oh about $5,000.’ And remember this was a long time ago. I said, ‘Okay, I’m not volunteering anymore.’ And that’s how I got started. That’s how I realized what I was doing had value.

7. As Atlanta’s first black First Lady, have you ever wanted to give advice to our nation’s black First Lady Michelle Obama?

When President Obama was first elected, I used to say to myself, ‘Lord, just let me get to her.’ I’ve spoken to her, but there was such a flurry of people that I couldn’t say what I wanted to say. What I wanted to way was, ‘Hang in there. This too shall pass.’ When I was First Lady, I wanted my own thing so to speak. And I get the same feeling about Michelle. I mean she’s a lawyer so she’s got to have an ego. She’s got to have a dream of her own. And being the First Lady for me and most likely for her meant that I had to put my goals on the back burner so I want to say, ‘Hang in there, Sister. In eight years, it will be over.”

To buy a copy of Ms. Jackson-Ransom’s book, please go click on the link: Getting the Word Out: How to Market Your Ministry.

Any thoughts?

 

My Red Carpet Coverage of the 2015 Trumpet Awards/Watch It on TV One THIS Saturday…

Hello World, me and mystikal

Although I love God more than any other being, my other great love (other than my husband and family) are celebrities…So when an opportunity arose to cover the 23rd Annual Trumpet Awards Ceremony from the red carpet, I couldn’t pass it up…So I got my hair did, face did, toes did and wore a dress I’ve had in my closet since my 20s (yay me…#notsohumblebrag)(check out the “us-sie” of me and Mystikal, who performed at the Trumpet Awards)

red carpet

 

and joined the rest of the paparazzi with my Kodak easyshare and went to work…So below are a few of my photos…Make sure to watch the actual awards ceremony on TV One this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

026The creator of the Trumpet Awards, Ms. Xernona Clayton…

006Lou Gossett, Jr. pointing out my itty bitty camera and telling me I was cute 🙂

059One of this year’s honorees, Janelle Monaé

007Isaac from “The Love Boat” also known as Ted Lange 🙂

038Babeee, they are minked (not sure if real or fake..)out… Bishop Ron Gibson and his wife LaVette from the “Preachers of L.A.”

045Another honoree and my soror…Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse School of Medicine…

015Ambassador Andrew Young and his wife Carolyn Young…

soror benjamin trumpetMy soror Dr. Regina Benjamin, former surgeon general of the United States…

053Chanté Moore…

036Deborah Cox…

042Dr. Rachel Ross from “The Doctors”…

050 Ernie Isley of The Isley Brothers and wife…

056Dikembe Mutombo

048Leela James

011Journalist and Alpha Man Roland Martin…

031I caught Naturi Naughton checking her phone…

queQuvenzhané Wallis aka Annie…

020 Larry Dodson of the Bar-Kays…

065One of the hosts for the evening Laila Ali…

063Another honoree Jamie Foxx and Cathy Hughes, founder of TV One…

usieAn “us-ie”…Me and two friends I happened to see inside the ceremony…

069Again…Ms. Xernona Clayton, the force behind the evening…

This year’s honorees included: Lou Brock (Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinal Legend); Arnold W. Donald (President and CEO of Carnival Corporation); Jamie Foxx (Actor, comedian, musician); Tommy Hilfiger (Designer, philanthropist); Guy Vickers (President, THCF, VP Community Affairs); The Isley Brothers (Recording artists); Janelle Monáe (Recording artist); Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice (President/Dean Morehouse School of Medicine); Franklyn R. Wilson (Chairman, Sunshine Holdings, Ltd, Bahamas).

So how did you like my red carpet coverage?

Any thoughts?