Miami Valley View Noble Circle Project

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning. This is Miami Valleyview, a public service program brought to you
by iHeartMedia, Dayton and I amyour host, Dave Alexander. Thank you
all so much for listening in thismorning, and this morning, we have
got some great guests with us aswe talk about an outstanding organization this morning,
and we're gonna be getting into whereor why. We're gonna have a

(00:22):
fundraiser for these guys in a second. So joining me today is Jessica Foxy.
Hi, Jessica, Hello, allright, that worked out pretty well.
Charlotte Chumac, Yes, Hi,Charlotte, how are you? I'm
good, and the former host ofthis program, Kim fares Well. Hello.
I feel like Jay Leno with JimmyFallon. You know I got It's
like when you started saying the opening, I was like, wow, I

(00:44):
have that memorized. I know thatone sounds familiar to me. Ladies,
thank you so much for coming inas we're gonna be talking about the Noble
Circle Project today and what the NobleCircle Project does and how you three have
all benefited from the Noble Circle Project. You're all sisters, as you guys
call yourselves, and I love thatand how we can, you know,

(01:04):
help raise some money for the NobleCircle project, because you guys do everything
for free, and I think that'samazing. So let's first, let's start
off. I don't know who wantslet's introduce ourselves. Jessica, why don't
you introduce yourself? Hi? Iam Jessica Fox, originally from Troy,
Ohio. Lived in New York fortwenty two years and moved back to Dayton

(01:26):
and moved back home in twenty twentyAnd I'm here loving Dayton and just kind
of briefly. I was diagnosed withstage four colorectal cancer in December of twenty
twenty two, and that is shortlyafter I found Noble Circle. And that's
around here. So that you're you'rethe most recent sister in this troop of

(01:48):
three ladies. Okay, all right, I'm going nebe good. Great to
have you here, Charlotte Us.I am born and raised from Ohio.
I grew up in Mercer County,but I moved to Dayton Way Long I
long a time ago. But Igot diagnosed in two thousand and nine with
stage three breast cancer and I'm twentyfourteen. I was staged four metastatic disease,

(02:15):
and I found Nobel Circle through myecologist that's also a sponsor of the
event, along with iHeart and mixedone of seven seven back in twenty ten.
So I'm Group fourteen and I'm KimFerris and I used to work with
you here at the radio station.And my affiliation with Noble Circles started many,

(02:39):
many years ago when they first startedthe Warfare fashion show luncheon. Noble
Circle has been around twenty years.Twenty it'll be like twenty two years.
I think when it's all said anddone, we're going to be doing and
we'll talk about it later our nineteenthAnnual Warfare. But COVID kind of mixed
this up a little bit. ButI was the real MC for the event,

(03:01):
and never in a million years.We would always joke about it because
they would always say that I wasan honorary sister. Never in a million
years did I think that I wouldbe diagnosed with breast cancer in twenty eighteen,
and so here I am now asister. I was in Group thirty
four and Dave, as we said, we started things off with Group one

(03:23):
and now we're up to Group thirtyeight. Just graduated, and we'll talk
more about that. But the NobleCircle Project, and Charlotte can interject any
time because she's actually been a sistermuch longer than me. But the Noble
Circle Project was started by eight localwomen who had one thing in common.
They had all been diagnosed with cancerand they were all going through their traditional

(03:49):
treatment, but they wanted something more. They wanted something that was going to
give them perhaps more energy and teachthem more about nutrition. Did these ladies
know each other? I mean,or was it they were all going for
They all kind of well, theysome of them went to the same oncologist
and they all just kind of startedtalking. It was like, oh,

(04:09):
I have a friend who oh.And so the eight founders and Terry Hall
is one of the original members andshe is the co chair of the Awarefare
Fashion Show. But it's it's justthis organization that started out trying to teach
women, absolutely free of charge,to any woman who enters the program with

(04:30):
any form of cancer, that theycan thrive beyond their cancer diagnosis and the
retreat which we have all gone through. It's a must to become a Noble
Circle sister is you need to gothrough the retreat, and then we have
a weekly program after that. Theretreat is a Friday through Sunday, and

(04:51):
we have various speakers who come inand talk about nutrition, talk about different
forms of enter We all practice chigong, which is a it's a form of
Western Jessica, you could because,yeah, yeah, like yoga. It's

(05:11):
it's like an energy system, youknow, And I don't know how to
describe yeah, yeah, in actionto describe it over the radio is a
little difficulty. It's kind of likeballet in a way. It's it's very
fluid and and once you go throughthe entire chigong sequence, you're just very

(05:32):
energized and and and at a piecethat no one can describe until you actually
do it. And then peer support, So we have nutrition as one of
our pillars. We have the energy, the complementary energy, and then peer
support. And I personally think thatpeer support has been so extraordinary for me.

(05:55):
And it was something that I didn'tthink I needed. I thought,
Oh, I've got this, I'vegot this handled. But when I ended
up going through the retreat and theseven week program hearing from other sisters who
were going through the same issues thatI was, I still have problems with
the chemo pill. I'm want achemo oral chemo pill. I still have

(06:17):
problems with that five years later,and it makes things very difficult for me.
And I thought I was all aloneuntil I was talking with some sisters
who are on the same protocol asme, and they're like, yep,
I have that same issue. Sojust to interrupt you real quick, I
want to hear from Jessica because Iknow, I mean, obviously we know

(06:39):
how you became involved with and becamea sister. It's you know, because
you've been doing this and helping outthe Noble Circle Project forever. I want
to know the two of you.So we'll start with Jessica. You're the
latest sister. How did you like? How did somebody point you to Noble
Circle Project? It's a good question. Well, fortunately, so when my
husband and I moved here. Wemoved here in twenty twenty and like the

(07:00):
middle of COVID when it was nobodywas going out and talking to people and
making friends, so we were kindof sheltered for a bit, but eventually
as things started to open up throughone of the groups that my husband is
involved with. Shortly after I gotdiagnosed. He was sharing about my diagnosis
and how that's kind of changed everything, and in one of his groups,
his friend Judy, who is aNoble Circle sister, was like, oh,

(07:24):
your wife needs to know about thisNoble circle and so she handed him
a flyer and he brought it hometo me and it kind of sat on
the table for a second because Iwas like what is this? Like this
was all I'm sure that's got tobe something. We were looking at it
and you're like, yeah, really, well, do I really want to
be involved with this? Is thissomething I really want to do? And

(07:45):
a lot of it too, islike there's a lot of mental and emotional
aspects to it, because now it'slike my identity is changing from like I
was a very fit, active person, right, and now I am a
cancer patient. Right. So thiswas like do I accept that this is
me now? But I, youknow, was looking for support and because
I was, you know, Ifell alone and especially still during COVID times

(08:09):
and all that stuff. And toknow that I'm young, I was forty
four when I was diagnosed. Ineeded I wanted something else. So I
ended up texting Judy and she calledme back right away and spent like twenty
twenty five minutes talking to me aboutwhat Noble Circle was and mentioned about a
retreat coming up and how it wasa complimentary retreat and I was like,

(08:33):
what, Like, that's kind ofweird. And then I sat on it
for a while because I still wasn'tsure, like I didn't know if that's
what I wanted to do. Andthen eventually I was like, all right,
let me reach out, let meput because the retreat this was maybe
in January, the retreat was comingup in March. I reached out to
the volunteer coordinator, Karen, andthe it was full. The capacity was

(08:56):
full for that next coming retreat.She's like, but there's always an opportunity,
like somebody might have to back outbecause of sickness or treatment or whatever.
So I feel fortunate in that somebodydid back out and I was able
to get in to this retreat likea week before it happened. And it
was still like me trying to comeup with all these excuses to not actually

(09:18):
drive, like like to not takethe one hour drive there, but I'm
so glad I did. It wasjust it was such a great weekend to
meet other sisters and to meet otherpeople, like, you know that it's
not just breast cancer, Like Ihave colorectal cancer, and I know breast
cancer is very prominent within, youknow, within the cancer world, but

(09:41):
it was really nice to meet otherpeople with corectal cancer, with different types
of cancers too, and to stillhave us all be bonded with the fact
that we have cancer, had cancer, are still experiencing it or anything like
that. Yeah, And you know, I'm gonna guess one of the draws
of the retreat is, you know, with Kim was saying, is like
you're learning some nutritional things to helpyou out, but then when you walk

(10:05):
away from that retreat, it's probablythe peer support and those people that you
come out of that like that wasincredible. Yeah, definitely. I appreciate
all the nutritional facts and all theexercises that I've learned to do that I
wouldn't have learned before, but gettingthat support from a group of peers has
to be overwhelming. Yeah. Backingup just a little bit, Jessica has

(10:26):
such an interesting story of how shewas diagnosed, and it's just incredible because
colorectal cancer, if I'm correct,isn't easily diagnosed, and especially with someone
as young as you. Yeah,well, and the unfortunate stats are that
correctal cancer is now the leading causeof or the leading cancer amongst people under

(10:50):
fifty. Just this year, theAmerican Cancer Society just put out a report
about it. So younger and youngerpeople are getting diagnosed. So I certainly
want to create awareness with that.I've become so corectal cancer is often referred
to as CRC, so I've becomea fight CRC ambassador where I am trying

(11:11):
to get out there, put theword out to get screenings. You know,
I was going to say legally,but that's not the right word.
People forty five and older should bescreened for colorectal cancer. And if you
have anyone in your family, likeI was diagnosed at forty four, so
if my brothers at the age ofthirty four, you should really be If
anyone in your family has been diagnosed, you should be start getting your screenings

(11:35):
done ten years before that. Butyeah, I had no symptoms leading up
to it. I was, youknow, young, healthy fit. I'm
a vegan, I work in agym, like fitness professional. I'm a
fitness and nutrition coach like that's myprofession. So I feel like I was
doing everything right and then all ofa sudden, I get this stage four
diagnosis with a doctor telling me thatthis has probably been going on for at

(11:58):
least five to ten years inside ofme before even knowing, right, So
yeah, it's it's it was aI mean, a big shock changed my
life. Right. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you found the support of
Noble Circle Project, that's for sure. So, Charlotte, is your situation
kind of the same. How wereyou introduced to the Noble Circle Project?

(12:20):
My ancologist when I was going throughtreatment. He knows I was struggling and
needing just to find support or anoutlet and just and he's a very big
supporter of Noble Circle. And actuallythere was another lady from Noble Circle in
the Quema room and she and shewas one of the founding sisters. But

(12:41):
I spoke with her and she toldtold me about the pillars and and it
just spoke to me, and thenI reached out and I became a member
of that following fall after I completedmy massive amounts of treatment. I'm still
going through treatment now now that i'mStage four, until it no longer works,
but it's work great for me andI'm pretty much in remission type thing,

(13:05):
and the drugs I'm on help keepthat that way. But what you
want to take out of the retreatand the three pillars of the nutrition,
the chigong and the peer support.No one is forced to continue to do
any of that once you, youknow, leave the retreat. It's just
for those information you want to takeand do more with, Like you know,

(13:31):
like you may want to not wantto go vegan if that's not what
your lifestyle is, but you cantake some of the nutrition aspects that you
learn and incorporate it into what you'vedone. The friendships that I've made through
Noble Circle and the support from thesisters, no one every once it gets

(13:52):
to cancer diagnosis. But I don'tnever know what I would do without the
friendships that I have made over thetime years, because those people are the
first people that'll call me, textme, or I'll call them and can
reach out to them just from apersonal nature or you know, if I'm
they know I'm going through a testor something like that. So it is

(14:16):
the peer support and the friendships I'vemade. No one wants to have those
friends that you need for that time. But it is beyond what I've ever
envisioned when I enjoyed. I dohave a question. So you guys obviously
all been on the retreats that it'sthree days ish Friday through Sunday. So
what happens after are there? Doesyour group your specific group, you know

(14:39):
you've all lifted off the number thatyou want. Do you guys meet throughout
the rest of the year. Howdoes that work? We have after the
retreat? And for you when youwent through it, it was a ten
week program, right Charlotte. Theyhave cut it down to seven weeks after
COVID because it just it became moremanageable in a lot of different ways.

(15:01):
They had larger groups back before COVID. Well, my group was eight,
but I think yours was had ten. Yes, and we can go up
to twelve. Right now, wehave a waiting list, and you know,
I know it's just and that's it. I wish that there was a

(15:22):
day that we would say, well, we have no one needs to do
this. So after you go throughthe weekend retreat that following Thursday, and
for seven weeks after that, yougo through a weekly program and we start
off with chigong our energy technique andthen we have a healthy, nutritious dinner,

(15:43):
and then after dinner we break outinto groups and we discussed different things.
I mean, we have one onjournaling, which can be very beneficial
for someone going through treatment. Youneed to be able to write things down,
and that's one thing that is well, it's good for your mental health.
Also it's good to look back onwhen you go to a doctor's appointment

(16:04):
and you're hearing all this information,it's just like swirling around in your head.
If you're kind of writing things down, that's helpful. What was your
favorite there was? I mean therewas a great one on like aroma therapy
and just especially as you get intotreatment, like I'm still actively through treatment,
and the smell of the saline solutionsand in the hospital, like in

(16:26):
the infusion centers, So the romatherapy was great and just like helping to
provide different sense that could mitigate someof those awful smells, that was great.
I think that there was a cookingdemonstration one where you can cook like
you know, one two meals,two meals in one way, or one
meal in two different ways, somethinglike that. And the journaling was fantastic.

(16:51):
But I think the big thing aboutthat seven week program is that it
allowed you to continue building that relationship, those relationships that you got that you
started over the weekend. So youknow, we were enmeshed for three days
together and then obviously there's some separationas it goes through. So that seven
week program allowed you to still seethose same faces, to keep building making

(17:11):
those bonds, and then what youdo after that is kind of up to
like the tightness of your group.My group, we're actually getting ready to
meet. You know, we've meta few times. It's often hard scheduling
ten people together, of course,but you know, we've got an upcoming
thing where we're gonna we picked acouple of recipes. We're gonna bring the
recipes together. We're gonna make adinner together and then sit down and eat

(17:33):
and maybe play some card games orsomething like that too. So yeah,
so it's nice because you that thatretreat started the connection and then you can
kind of just keep fostering it.And then that's within your own group,
but then there's the larger groups too. We're through our Facebook group, through
our Noble Circle Sister platform, wecan really continue to engage. Yeah,

(17:55):
now, Charlotte, what group wereyou again? I was Group fourteen back
twenty ten, twenty ten and howmany how many were in your We had
fourteen in my group. We startedwith with fifteen. One sister got sick
and so she didn't continue. Butyou know, like Kim said earlier,

(18:15):
everything that Noble Circle does for thesisters, the programs, the retreats for
the new sisters, there's a summaryretreat for the sisters as a group,
which is fun, is fun,you know, so entire weekend. It's
near Cincinnati and you know, there'shiking, there's speakers all you know,
we get meals prepared for us andstuff like that. But it's all free

(18:38):
of charge because of the fundraising thatis done and the sponsors that we have
for some of our events. Yeah, I think it's important that we also,
I mean, this is this groupis amazing, This is I'm so
glad that I get to be apart of it through Mix one oh seven

(18:59):
seven to help raise money. Youguys, I think it's because this group
is amazing, but I think it'syour just your your your motto, you
know, is is this thrive thatyou know, that button that we have
all we get for a for aconcert, for a cur and it's so
great to see that button. Butyou know, and I think it's amazing
that all of you just stay soclose together, that it's such a tight

(19:19):
knit thing, and I think it'sawesome. I'm trying to think what else
I wanted to Well, I wantedto bring up the fact that when this
organization started, they really didn't knowwhere they were going to go with it.
They just knew that this was somethingthat they really needed. And the
organization to this day, we're anentirely volunteer organization. We have one paid

(19:47):
staff member and she is our executivesecretary, and she's the one that when
we can't do spreadsheets or something Ialways use. You know, I was
a radio announcer. I don't knowhow to do that. You know,
she's the person that oversees all ofthat. But you were talking about are
Thriving Beyond Cancer. When Noble Circlesstarted, the tagline was a Community of

(20:12):
Women Surviving with Cancer. That wasin two thousand and four. In two
thousand and seven they changed it toa Community of Women Surviving Beyond Cancer,
and then in two thousand and ninethey realized that we had to be a
community of women thriving beyond cancer.And I think that says a lot.

(20:32):
And that's just that change of wordingfrom surviving to thriving is amazing. And
you all have such a support teamto help you thrive, and I think
that's great. And the other thingis, you know, we of course
do this on mix with our Concertfor a Cure, which is usually centered
around breast cancer, but you guys, you're there for everyone suffering from cancer,
every lady. And I think that'samazing and that is amazing. We

(20:53):
do this. You guys do this. The retreat is free, right,
The retreat is free, and theseven week program it's free, and the
Junior Tree is free, the AllSisters Retreat, it's all amazing. Everything
you do. And to be clear, like the retreat too, it's not
just us gathering together. Like therethere are massages that happen, like chair

(21:15):
massages. There's there's a ray keythat could happen. There's like these other
energy systems that we have and allthis is provided and it's I mean,
it's truly like I feel very gratefulthat that was there for me without having
to worry about oh, how amI going to fund this? Right?
It's so it was so nice.I possibly a fool to do this.
I want to do that, butyou don't have to afford because it's free.

(21:36):
So it's free because we have toraise some money for you guys.
One of them is our Concert fora Cure, which we do every October
through Mix one oh seven seven.But the other one is even bigger events
and Ken Ferris, what are wedoing? Well? I'm the cheerwoman this
year, so I'm very proud.It's our nineteenth annual Aware Fair Fashion Show

(21:56):
Luncheon. It's going to be onFebruary twenty fourth. It's a Sinkler Conference
Center and it's from ten am untiltwo pm. And we start off the
morning at ten am with boutique shopping. We have local vendors who have beautiful
items for sale, and then wealso have a basket raffle. You can
purchase tickets for the basket raffle,and then we also have a cash raffle

(22:18):
where you can purchase tickets to winfrom five hundred dollars down to one hundred
dollars, and so we do thattoo. So that goes on and it's
funny. Pardon me, it's funnybecause I am se at this event every
year. Never did I know thatwe had, you know, like fun
drinks like yours and my kind ofdrink like mimosas. So we have a

(22:42):
cash bar and then we have awonderful healthy lunch that starts at noon,
followed by information about the Noble CircleProject. And part of our program is
we remember the sisters who have transitionsover the past year. And then we

(23:03):
have a testimonial speaker, and thisyear, Jessica Fox is our testimonial speaker
and no pressure, just keeping meand you'll be fine when she tells her
story, it's just you just can't. You're just pulled right in. It's
just extraordinary. And she only gaveyou a tip of the iceberg. You
could probably be here for the nexttwo hours. Absolutely, And so at

(23:29):
noon we start that we have lunch, and then Holly Campbell Bradley is our
commentator for the fashion show, andCharlotte works with the models for the fashion
show, who are all our NobleCircle sisters. Every one of the models
has gone through the retreat and Charlottetalk about the fashion show. Yes,

(23:51):
so we have twenty four sisters,just three boutiques, local boutiques that we
utilize. This year's Pieces of Styleand zig Zag, both located in Centerville,
and we also have the Creek Boutiquethat's located in Beaver Creek. So
none of us are professional models atall, and we don't expect anybody to

(24:11):
be. But we dance. Wedanced down the runway and we paranoid that
we don't fall off, you know, but it was just like, but
no one has in the years thatI've been there. There is Oh yeah,
some of them are very high heels. Yeah that and I'm not wearing

(24:33):
high heels this year because I feellike it was a two year old where
my mom's shoes last year. Butanyway, so, uh, and you
just dance down the runway. Atthe end, you get recognized your name
and what you're how long you've beenthriving behind your cancer diagnosis. So it's
our big and you can purchase yourtickets. You can attend the event.

(24:56):
You can just buy cash raffle ticketsor uh, you can be a sponsor.
There's you can so you can havea lunch and you get a full
table just an individual seat. Youcan come and shop anyway you would like
to support the event. So allthe items that are up during the fashion
show that you ladies are wearing,they're they're there that like that. Items

(25:18):
are up for sale, yes,and they you know, we're you know,
specifically modeling for the Creek. Youknow, they have an ad in
our program book and so people willknow where to find them and where to
go or pieces of stylers zag andno where to go to their boutique where
they're located at. And I sawsomebody wearing this red outfit, I love

(25:40):
it, and they'll come in andwant to purchase it. Sometimes the sister
that was wearing it fell in loveit and they buy it. But it's
perfect, yeah, you know,if it's perfect. But they usual they
have multiple sizes in their metork.So but they've all been such great supporters
of Noble Circle Project. And allthree of the owners of the three boutiques,
they're there that day and think aboutit because we're all going in a

(26:03):
week or ten days before the fashionshow, and they are loaning us clothes
to wear during the fashion show.So those clothes aren't for sale because they're
not in their boutique at the time, So they really take a lot of
time and effort to make sure thatwe look and feel our best. Are
you going to be a model?I was last year. This year my

(26:25):
role has changed us a little bit. I can't be two places at once,
which I know. I really enjoyedit, and I was one of
those people that bought two of theoutfits that my model. But it is
so much fun. And then theother thing that we do that is so
special is during the testimonial, afterJessica shares her story, we ask the

(26:49):
people who are there if you wouldlike to support a sister, and we
have envelopes on the table and forfive minutes we just have some fun and
if someone would like to make anadditional donation. And I don't know how
much time we have, Dave,but I have to thank our sponsor three
or four minutes, Okay, Well, I first off have to thank uh

(27:11):
Voss Chevrolet and the Miami Valley Chevroletdealers. They came up as being our
main sponsor along with Kettering Health.And then we have the James Dayton Physicians
Mixed one oh seven seven and iHeartMedia, Dayton, RB Jurgens As Ohio Foundation
and our supporting sponsors are Sinclair JonesMachinery Incorporated, Breast Wishes Foundation, and

(27:37):
Jan Hillman, the chair of BreastWishes Foundation. And I know you're familiar
with breast Wishes, which helps womengrant wishes if they have been diagnosed with
breast cancer. One of our NobleCircle sisters when she was diagnosed, she
was going to be going through areally tough time and didn't have a comfortable
place to sit in her home.Oh, just didn't have any place where

(28:00):
she could just feel comfortable, andshe didn't want to be in bed all
the time. And so the BreastWishes Foundation granted her wish of a recliner.
Nice. Well, Jan Hillman,who is the chair of Breast Wishes,
she is a Noble Circle sister.Oh really, and so she has
her own organization and also supports theNoble Circle project because she knows what it

(28:23):
has done for her personally. Verynice, All right, this is going
to be a great event. Whenis it? It's coming up on Saturday,
February twenty fourth, Okay, Andyou can go to our website Noblecircle
dot org and you can find theinformation on there. Also, we have
a Facebook page, a community Facebookpage Noble Circle and just go there.

(28:45):
You'll see all of our pictures andthings. We would love for you to
come, bring your girlfriends. That'swhat we do. It's like my girlfriend's
will just come and make it aday. So circle Noblecircle dot dot org
and you can. That's where youcan get the tickets, Yes, the
ticket we'll be There's going to bea page on there where you can actually
just click on and get the ticketsthere, or you can always write us

(29:07):
a little note and you could emailme Kim E. Ferris at woh dot
r R dot com. I canget you to the right person. But
Noble Circle Projects we have volunteers whoare sisters. All of our volunteers are
sisters. But if you know someonewho has been diagnosed with any form of

(29:29):
cancer, this is what we say. Any cancer, any stage, any
woman, any age. If youknow someone who would like to be a
part of our Noble Circle sisterhood,just reach out to us Noblecircle dot org.
That's all you, guys, Jessica, Charlotte, Kim, thanks for
sharing your stories. Let's help thisorganization. Let's help raise a whole bunch
of money for the Noble Circle Project. Thank you guys for coming in and

(29:52):
good luck. Thank you for havingus