{"id":2084,"date":"2018-09-28T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T13:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2018-09-28T15:57:32","modified_gmt":"2018-09-28T19:57:32","slug":"earnestine-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2084","title":{"rendered":"Earnestine Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paying Strength Forward <\/em><\/h1>\n

By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Alice G. Patterson<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

On Dec. 7, 2011, Earnestine Williams treated herself to an annual birthday present: a trip to the doctor\u2019s office for a mammogram.<\/p>\n

Soon after, she missed a few calls from the doctor\u2019s office. Thinking it was likely about a client from her work as an enrollment department manager at Molina Healthcare, she wasn\u2019t worried. A few days later, she received a letter requesting she call the office. Then, she began to worry.<\/p>\n

She learned they\u2019d found something during the routine mammogram. After a biopsy that weekend \u2014 her birthday weekend \u2014 Earnestine was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. To make matters worse, her mother also suffered from a stroke that same week.<\/p>\n

Then, months later, while Earnestine was going through chemotherapy and radiation, her daughter, Shontravia, passed away suddenly and Earnestine was forced to fight for custody of her grandson.<\/p>\n

The story doesn\u2019t stop there. When her cancer treatment was almost complete, she found herself in a custody battle once again for another grandson.<\/p>\n

When Earnestine recalled these challenges, she did so with quiet and confident inner strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mind was all over the place,\u201d she remembered, adding that she thought about her job, finances, long-term effects and her hair. \u201cI wasn\u2019t ready for any of this. I prayed on it. I took it for what was and I never looked backed. I didn\u2019t let it get the best of me. Easier said than done, but a lot easier when you don\u2019t focus on what it could have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just face things and keep going, she advised.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think about what the outcome could be,\u201d Earnestine said. \u201cYou make your outcome what you want it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building a foundation<\/h4>\n

Earnestine moved from a small town in Georgia to Syracuse almost 30 years ago with her then-boyfriend and 7-year-old daughter. Earnestine was pregnant when they moved to Syracuse in October and had her son the following March.<\/p>\n

Soon, she was a single parent raising two young children. Her family gave her a strong base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful for the strong women in my life,\u201d she said. \u201cMy mother, my aunt and my cousins gave me the foundation to make it here. My mother\u2019s words of wisdom were, \u2018You can\u2019t give up if you want to make it.\u2019 My aunt\u2019s support and two wonderful cousins here in Syracuse and Auburn area taught me how to be a strong woman. It\u2019s hard working, raising children, going to school and taking care a home, but it makes you strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Earnestine earned an associate\u2019s degree from Bryant & Stratton College and began working for temp agencies.<\/p>\n

Being a single parent with two young children, she knew it was crucial to have health insurance. Initially, Earnestine was eligible to have her children covered through Medicaid. When she began working full time for Total Care through a temp agency, her children were covered by Child Health Plus.<\/p>\n

Through her more than two-decade-long career with Molina Healthcare, Earnestine has relied on her own experiences to help people navigate through the health care system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it because it gives me opportunity to give back to the community,\u201d she said. \u201cThe people that we work with, they\u2019re going through what I\u2019ve been through. I moved here with no income and no job, pregnant with my son and in need of health insurance. Many of the clients we assist are new to the area and in need of health insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

With options aimed at making health insurance more widely available, Earnestine would like to see more people have health insurance for themselves and their families. With health insurance, illness can more easily be prevented and fewer people will struggle, she explained, adding that more people will be able to work and give their family a better life.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know what\u2019s out there for you until you get into those situations. There are so many people who don\u2019t know where to start,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, being in the field that I am in, I\u2019m thankful that \u2014 from my own personal experience and then from my job \u2014 I can help people navigate through that system.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Earnestine was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatments, she saw firsthand the importance of having health insurance when battling a serious illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t died from the cancer, I would have died from the bills,\u201d she said with a chuckle. \u201cI\u2019m just thankful I had health insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connecting with CLASP<\/h4>\n

After finding out in early December 2011 that she had breast cancer, Earnestine wanted to start fighting it right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I went in and had my surgery three days before Christmas. I wasn\u2019t waiting,\u201d she said. \u201cI refused to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surgery was successful, and in February 2012, Earnestine began treatment \u2014 three cycles of chemotherapy and 48 shots of radiation, lasting until 2014.<\/p>\n

Her worst fear with the treatments was getting sick. Thanks to a few different nausea medications, she managed to avoid that.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it was a really bad situation, I received really good treatment the whole time,\u201d she remembered. \u201cMy oncologist prescribed me great medications to help prevent nausea during my chemo treatments. So, I was very thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the cancer was caught in its early stages and the treatments were manageable, Earnestine faced tragedy in other areas of her life during that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had gone out of town for the weekend,\u201d Earnestine remembered. \u201cThat Sunday morning, my grandson, Deiondre\u2019 \u2014 then only 12 years old \u2014 called to tell me his mom had a seizure. We had taught him that when she had seizures, the only thing he could do was try to keep her from falling on the floor and call 911. He had did everything we had taught him.\u201d<\/p>\n

She drove back to Syracuse to meet her family at the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever did it cross my mind that she was gone,\u201d she remembered. \u201cBut I knew something was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

She arrived at the hospital and learned the news that her daughter had passed away.<\/p>\n

After Shontravia\u2019s funeral, Earnestine began to look into the process of gaining custody of Deondre\u2019.<\/p>\n

Though he was living with her, she was not his legal guardian at the time. Through a coworker, Earnestine became familiar with the Hiscock Legal Aid Society, an organization founded to help provide free legal assistance to anyone in the area in need. She learned the organization offered a program specifically for cancer survivors, the Cancer Legal Advocacy and Services Project or CLASP. According to HLAS\u2019 website, the program offers legal services including lifetime planning, access to healthcare, income maintenance, family law, employment and housing preservation\/eviction prevention.<\/p>\n

The legal aid society helped Earnestine through the process and she finalized custody of her grandson in October 2012.<\/p>\n

The following year, when Earnestine\u2019s treatments were almost complete, she found herself turning to HLAS’s once again to gain custody of Malique, the son of her son, Tracey. Now, Earnestine and Tracey share joint custody of Malique, with Earnestine functioning as his primary caregiver.<\/p>\n

While battling breast cancer, Earnestine became a parent all over again \u2014 twice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a change,\u201d she said, comparing her experiences parenting. \u201cRaising my kids and these kids, it\u2019s like two different worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving back<\/p>\n

Through every struggle Earnestine has endured and conquered, she\u2019s found an opportunity to give back and pass on her knowledge and experience.<\/p>\n

Though she\u2019s been cancer-free for almost six years now, Earnestine stays involved with the American Cancer Society through the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign. She\u2019s raised more than $3,000 for the organization and recruited more than 15 people to help join the fight.<\/p>\n

Along with the work she does with Molina Healthcare to help people navigate the health care system, she\u2019s personally connected with many people diagnosed with cancer, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not part of my job, but because I\u2019ve been there, I\u2019m thankful that I can help,\u201d Earnestine said.<\/p>\n

She also served on the HLAS board for three years, assisting not only in guidance but also helping to organize the society\u2019s largest fundraiser. Though she\u2019s no longer a member of the board, Earnestine hopes to stay involved with fundraising efforts, to continue giving back to one of the organizations that helped her through an overwhelming and difficult time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no exaggeration that Earnestine has been through a lot. When people remark that she\u2019s a strong person, she assures them she \u201chas her days,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some days that I just want to sit in a corner and cry, but that\u2019s not going to get me anywhere,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to get up and keep going. I have to be strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

For anyone who finds themselves faced with so many challenges at once, Earnestine\u2019s advice is to take things one day at a time and keep pushing forward. She finds strength in her faith, she said, explaining that she\u2019s here for a reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t take life for granted,\u201d Earnestine said. \u201cGo get your mammograms. Support those who are out there struggling. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is October. Support us.\u201d SWM<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paying Strength Forward By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Alice G. Patterson On Dec. 7, 2011, Earnestine Williams treated herself to an annual birthday present: a trip to the doctor\u2019s office for a mammogram. Soon after, she missed a few calls from the doctor\u2019s office. Thinking it was likely about a client from her work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[377,505,504,695,262,694],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-american-cancer-society","tag-earnestine-williams","tag-hiscock-legal-aid-society","tag-october-2018","tag-syracuse-woman-magazine","tag-the-pink-edition"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Earnestine-Williams-Syracuse-Woman-Magazine-October-2018-0012.jpg?fit=5200%2C3470&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1450,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1450","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":0},"title":"Hiscock Legal Aid Society","author":"Staff","date":"January 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Justice For All Photography by Mary Grace Johnson This month, we talked with four members of the Hiscock Legal Aid Society, an organization that strives to provide high quality legal aid to individuals and families in need in the Central New York area. 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