Meet Tamika Felder: Advocate to Eradicate Cancer
“I don’t have the perfect answer. I just know I won’t stop.”
This is Tamika Felder’s answer when I ask her about her game plan to ensure that we are the last generation of women to face cervical cancer. “We are going to eradicate this,” she says simply.
Tamika’s advocacy for health education and awareness was spurred by her own cervical cancer diagnosis and radical hysterectomy in her mid-twenties. Now, in her fourteenth year of being a survivor, she recalls the emotions that motivated her to act. “I felt isolated, discouraged and I knew I needed to create a community to empower myself and other women to rise up from those feelings and share their stories. Not just to connect with other survivors but to share in a way that inspires real change.”
The community that Tamika refers to is Cervivor, which originated as Tamika & Friends. In her words it’s a “learning tool and advocacy movement” that reaches out to cancer survivors all over the globe about telling their story and being messengers for the cause. The cause being let’s not allow one more woman to die from this disease or face it alone.
One aspect of Cervivor is Cervivor School which has been held in American cities as well as internationally. Survivors who attend meet and bond but are also given valuable tools in how to advocate for better cancer prevention education in their individual areas and to reach out to the media and tell their personal stories in an impactful way.
Another part of the Cervivor community is Cervivor TV which features interviews with newly diagnosed patients, survivors, medical experts, care givers among others to help anyone needing advice or to feel less alone.
“That’s what reaches people,” Tamika confirms. “Personal stories. We need to see faces as we hear those stories so we know we are going to be okay — That we’re not facing this alone.”
Cervivor stays on top of all current guidelines for cancer screenings, preventative care and treatment and Tamika has long been a source of information for where women can turn to for financial assistance if they find themselves battling this disease without insurance.
I asked her how she sustains her will to fight so tirelessly to be heard when cervical cancer does not get the kind of media coverage as many other types and she reminded me that change doesn’t happen overnight.
“Because these women’s lives are worth it. Someone needs to help these women live their lives beyond the stigma. That we’re here for them.”
The CDC reports that cervical cancer used to be the leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States, but that number has significantly dropped further bolstering Tamika’s goal to make us the last generation to experience this disease. It’s a matter of education, awareness and availability for women to have annual gynecological exams and vaccinate boys and girls against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
“And once we officially put an end to cervical cancer? There’s no stopping us, I believe we’ll figure out how to put an end to all cancers. We’re all in this together.”
Photo courtesy of Tamika Felder
