Shanna Swanson, Executive Director of the Firefly Sisterhood, is a kindred spirt. As I sat furiously taking notes during an interview with her, I paused for a moment to and realized that I was anticipating her thoughts. If it wasn’t clear to me before we sat down (and it kinda was) it was clear to me that FFS and JCC are wonderfully like one another. We just have different folks that we serve. The most striking similarity is that women experiencing a breast cancer diagnosis and guy Caregivers both often can only rely on their guide or their coach to speak frankly to someone who truly understands what they are going through.
I first heard about Firefly shortly after they began. My wife received a visit from a Guide post-surgery. Jennifer was just starting her recovery when she took solace in knowing someone who had been there was in her corner. I shared with Shanna that I speak of the Firefly Sisterhood many times each week because I’m a big fan and it’s also a way for me to easily explain to folks familiar with the organization to understand our Jack to Jack coaching program.
Shanna signed on with FFS in March and had a lot (20 years) of experience working with and for people in Long Term Care. Sufficed to say… Shanna cares about people. She lost a friend to cancer not too long ago and wanted to be part of this organization that supports women supporting women. Firefly’s model is a simple but powerful one that relies on women who have experienced breast cancer in their past to support those in active treatment for breast cancer. They match their Guides with participants according to age, lifestyle interests and stage and treatment plans. Shanna shared that the number one concern of parents seeking a guide is how this affect their children. Like Jack's most of the women FFS serves are in the metro area but also lie Jack's they are expanding nationally.
Join Shanna and me for the Firefly Sisterhood Gala on October 8th.