Stories For and About Living Your Truth
By Chanda Temple
Breast cancer wasn’t part of Jill Carter’s plans. But plans change.
She was a married mom of three boys – one in kindergarten, one in fourth grade and one in 10th grade – when she was diagnosed with Stage 2 Triple Negative breast cancer on Oct. 3, 2008. From working part time to handling home life, she stayed on the go
“I remember thinking I don’t have time for this. But I did, and that began the fight of my life,” she said.
By Chanda Temple
Breast cancer pushed Denetra Johnson to do two things: enroll in community college and go to church more.
It all started on Oct. 29, 2011 after her doctor called and said she had triple breast cancer. What followed next was all Denetra had to hear: “I think we got it in time.”
Denetra cried at first. Then, she told her family and started working on a plan.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m fixing to do some thangs now,’ ” Denetra recalled. “It’s time for me to grow up, … get stronger, be a thriver and a survivor.’ ”
By Chanda Temple
Every day, Alease Sims walks past a pink wreath that once belonged to her daughter, Stacey Sims Turner.
A sign on it reads: “I stood strong. I fought hard. I won.”
Stacey was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. As Stacey fought the disease, Alease knew her pain because Alease had fought the same disease in 1989. Alease comforted Stacey through a mastectomy, chemo, radiation and six-month checkups.
Doctors eventually told Stacey she was cancer-free. But in 2021, the cancer had returned and spread to Stacey’s lungs and brain. Again, Alease was by Stacey’s side, telling her, “We are going to fight this.”
By Chanda Temple
Moments before Birmingham native Jasmine “Jazz” McKenzie stepped on stage, capturing the votes and hearts of the judges and audience from NBC’s “The Voice” on Monday, Oct. 13, she remembered six little words.
“What’s for you won’t miss you.”
It’s a saying a fellow “The Voice” contestant shared with other contestants this season, and it’s something Jazz has been saying to herself since starting the process on Season 28. On Monday, Sept. 22, she appeared in “The Blind Auditions” premiere, singing her rendition of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
That evening, Jazz received a “four-chair turn,” earning the attention and interest of all four celebrity coaches. While each coach wanted her, she selected singer/coach Michael Buble.
Then, on Monday, Oct. 13, Jazz appeared again for her next competition in what’s known as “The Battles.” She faced off with team mate, Trinity, as they did a duet to Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity.”
By Chanda Temple
When Monique Martin’s father died in May 2024, she was engulfed in grief. And as a result, the lymph nodes under her arms and in her neck, began to swell.
She thought stress had brought on the brief swelling. So, she ignored it.
Then, in August 2024, the swelling returned and it gradually got worse. In October 2024, she felt a lump in her left breast. Officials scheduled her for a mammogram in November 2024.
“I got the mammogram, went on the patient portal and read the results before they even called me,” she said. It said, “Indicative of breast cancer.” She wasn’t totally surprised because her mother is a breast cancer survivor. But she was scared.
“I was kind of kicking myself because I was like, ‘Maybe if I had gotten on this when I first noticed my lymph nodes were swollen, the prognosis would have been a little bit better,’ ” she said.
By Chanda Temple
Twenty-four hours before her first date with a man who would one day become her fiancé, Madeline Patterson’s phone rang.
It wasn’t him.
Instead, her UAB doctor was calling to tell her that her biopsy confirmed she had breast cancer and she needed to come in the next day. She had to call her date and cancel.
“I said, ‘Hey, this is crazy. I got some really bad news today. This is what is going on,’ ” she recalled. “He was really supportive.”
It was Nov.16, 2022.
By Chanda Temple
What a week Eva Johnson has had.
On Tuesday, the City of Birmingham presented her with a proclamation for the work she’s been doing in the community to help breast cancer survivors. Then, Mayor Randall Woodfin personally congratulated her.
On Thursday, 10 years after being declared cancer-free, she finally got the chance to ring the bell like other cancer survivors.
And this morning, she led her annual breast cancer walk, the Eva B. Johnson Warrior Walk, in East Lake Park to help raise money for breast cancer research and to support area organizations that help women facing breast cancer. With 75 attendees, including some she didn’t even know, the walk had the biggest crowd she’s ever had in the five years she’s been hosting it.
By Chanda Temple
It’s a Thursday evening, and Janice Wilson is going over lines for a play.
She’s read scripts for smaller projects and even enrolled in acting classes in the past. But this right here is different.
“This is bigger because people are paying to come to this one. And I got a contract,’’ she said of her role in “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,” which was presented at the Homewood Theatre in late September.
“The reason I’m challenging myself with this play is because my mother died of Alzheimer’s, and I’m trying to do things to keep my mind sharp.”
At 82, this retired principal from Birmingham’s Bush Middle School does a lot to stay active. She acts with the Red Mountain Seasoned Performers, volunteers with middle school students through the City of Birmingham’s Common Ground program, visits nursing homes, is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and has even played aqua volleyball. (She only stopped the aqua volleyball in 2024 because she was busy doing something else.)
But one of her more victorious roles has been being a breast cancer survivor.
By Chanda Temple
The comb went through Doniell Milliner’s hair, like knife through butter, seemingly slicing strands at every stroke.
But Doniell wasn’t sad as she showed the large ball of hair to her Facebook followers. In fact, she smiled in what she saw as a moment of victory.
“That means that healing is taking plaaaccccceee!” she said in a sing-songy voice. “Amen.”
By Chanda Temple
Jamie Shelby went in for her routine mammogram in January 2016, thinking the results would be the same clear results she’d received in the past.
A few days later, while she was in Key West waiting to depart for an extended vacation to the Bahamas with her husband and friends, her cellphone rang. It was her doctor’s office telling her she needed to return for additional testing.
She sat there, stunned, wondering if she should cut her vacation before it even started or return to Birmingham at the end of the vacation. The doctor’s office told her she had time and to come in after her vacation.
While in the Bahamas, Jamie tried to enjoy the ocean views and sand. But lingering in the back of her mind as she laid back in a hammock was, “Will I ever be here again?”