Cervivor No More

A lot has happened in the last 6 or so months. I am no longer associated with Cervivor. This was my choice, but the repercussions have been devastating. I quit because I did not like the direction the group was moving in - demotions if you didn't raise money constantly for the organization, focusing on cancer "celebrities" whose cervical cancer was not caused by HPV, as has been the focus, I believe, since the group's origin as Tamika and friends. I spent the entirety of Cervivor School Del Ray Beach in my room with a thrown out back. I was called a drug addict, and completely ostracized. None of this mattered to me at the time, because I was done with the group.

Very recently, Cervivor founder, Tamika Felder, banned some long term members of the group - because they were friends on social media with a woman that Tamika has issues with.

I'll pause so that can sink in.

Yes, women were removed from a cancer advocacy group because of who their friends were.

Does that sound like a dictatorship? Yeah, it does to me too.

Cervivor is NOT a support group, but so many women involved with it find the support they need to get through cancer treatments, and to emotionally heal after a cancer diagnosis. And that was ripped away from them, all because of a woman on their friends list.

There was no warning given. No chance to explain that maybe they hadn't had contact with this woman in a while, but hadn't given it enough thought to remove her from their friends list. It happened that fast - all of a sudden, they found themselves outside of a group that had meant so much to them.

Please stop and think about that - these women were ostracized from a CANCER GROUP because of a name on their friends list. These women are devastated. They are angry. They feel betrayed. Can you blame them?

Please do not associate with Cervivor. Do not join their dictatorship. Do not donate money to them. The childishness and hypocrisy has got to stop. Groups like this should be about allowing members to turn their sense of helplessness over their diagnosis into action, not some Mean Girls clique about blindly following the leader and being told who you are allowed to be friends with.