Inspiring Women to Use Personal Experiences to Lead

January 7, 2018, the day that completely upended my world. My husband and I had just celebrated 5 months in our brand-new city, Seattle, WA. We were both in the prime of our bio-pharmaceutical careers, mine in Corporate Finance, and his near the top of the Supply Chain. On this day, he started showing symptoms similar to a stroke: confusion, awkward motor control, visual issues. Within 12 hours, we heard the words that no one wants to hear – “You have a brain tumor, I think it is Glioblastoma/GBM. This is NOT good news.” This was the start of a 2 1/2 year battle, through surgeries, chemo, radiation, more chemo, more radiation, and experimental treatments/clinical trials. It was on this journey when we connected with End Brain Cancer Initiative (EBCI), www.EndBrainCancer.org,  for the first time. What struck us most was how much the doctors leaned on patients & caregivers to determine what treatments they want to try. The challenge is that there are so many treatment attempts/options but so few treatment successes. It is really hard to find out what you do not know, and then comprehend it enough to make an educated decision.

After my husband passed in March of 2020, the pandemic was just revving up, and life as I knew it would never be the same. I just could not go back into the office environment and be assured my priorities still lined up with the corporate world. The opportunity to join the Board of Directors for EBCI as the Treasurer seemed to be a perfect match on so many levels. I joined in June of 2021, and over following 12 months, became even more involved in the organization. Today, my role has been expanded from Treasurer to also Head of Finance & Operations. I use my extensive Finance experience to not only help keep costs in check as we develop and expand our programs, but to also vet out corporate partners, grantors & sponsors. And, I am also project lead for the development of our brand-new mobile Disease Education app (to be officially launched in November 2022 on your favorite App Store – just search EBCI). I have long been a proponent of “Knowledge is Power” and am beyond thrilled that I get to make an IMPACT every day on that by helping this organization fulfill their mission of Patient and Caregiver Education on all advanced treatments, diagnostics, clinical trials, the value of specialists and specialty centers, and more. When my husband was diagnosed, and then again when he passed, I thought I would have trouble finding meaning and purpose in my life again. By pivoting my career away from the corporate world and into the non-profit brain cancer realm, I found my reason to keep pushing and fighting. If what I and EBCI do in this space can provide much needed help to even just one patient and their family, then we have been successful.

I hope that my sharing my experience, I can encourage more women to lean into their passion and entrepreneurship to create lasting change, impact and sustainability.  If you are a women leader who desires make great IMPACT by volunteer your grant writing skills, time and expertise to EBCI, please join & contact me at Shawn@EndBrainCancer.org.