On March 22, 2009, Dymond Hayes captured the title of Miss Teen Texas International and gained a broader horizon from which to share her platform, “Make an Impact, breast cancer awareness”! This 18 year old is an incoming freshman at Spelman College where she will pursue dual degrees in English and Communication with a focus in Broadcast Journalism.
Having lost both grandmothers to breast cancer and with her mother’s 2003 breast cancer diagnosis she faced a challenge bigger than anything she had ever experienced and at the lowest point in her life she discovered how cancer would make her life better. She sought out community groups and had the privilege to partner with The Komen Foundation and Siteman Cancer Center. According to Dymond, “It started with a team of 10 of my closest friends raising money in the walk for a cure and through this experience I met many community leaders who helped me to speak to local groups and encourage women to seek early detection. Throughout my community involvement I recruited members for my team, always shooting for a record donation greater than my previous efforts.”
Looking for creative ways to raise money to help patients she developed programs such as Cancer Cheer, Chemo Cold Treats, and Jump for a Cure. Currently her team has raised over $25,000 since her mother’s diagnosis in 2003 and her passion has only gotten stronger. Through this journey she has found that there are limited support groups for kids and she is currently writing a book that speaks to children traveling this journey with their loved ones in a voice that only one who has shared their experience can understand. You can hear her story posted in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC via Story Corps.
The money she has raised will help to fund research to find a cure. The talks she give educate women to seek early detection because it does save lives, but more importantly, the time she has donated puts a smile on the patient’s faces that spend too many hours scared and in pain! Lastly, Dymond feels that her mother’s journey of survival gives hope and her book will help children understand that with love of family, faith in God, and hope in tomorrow all things can be conquered, even cancer!
Dymond is excited to serve as Miss Teen Texas International and encourages you to “make an impact” through donations, volunteering with your local cancer centers, and having or encouraging your loved ones to have yearly mammograms! Together we can all make an impact on limiting the effects of this deadly disease!
