Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheri Mathis.
Sheri, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am not only the founder of the Mammogram Poster Girls, as a two-time breast cancer survivor (though I much prefer the term conqueror!) I am a “card-carrying” member of the club. I am one of four sisters, ALL of whom have survived breast cancer. The thing is, we don’t have “the” gene, don’t have a family history, and Mom never had it. All of us were diagnosed via a screening mammogram, so I nicknamed us the mammogram poster girls. We are the lucky ones—I fully believe that mammograms saved our lives! But what I’ve learned is that not everyone is quite so lucky. Too many women do not have access to what can be a lifesaving screening mammogram.
My outcome, and that of my sisters, has been good, but that was because we had the resources to get our annual screening mammograms. Inspired by this inequity, I felt compelled to help raise awareness of and money for the early detection of breast cancer. To accomplish that goal, in 2018, I (and some generous and very supportive friends) founded the Mammogram Poster Girls Inc. (MPG), an all-volunteer organization created to educate women about the importance of getting screening mammograms, to raise funds for breast cancer early detection, and to create programs to provide screening and diagnostic mammograms for those unable to afford them. Since 2018 our organization has provided thousands of screening and diagnostic mammograms and procedures for women throughout the D/FW metroplex.
Our goal is to break down barriers to access, including funding, education, and transportation
The mission of the Mammogram Poster Girls is to save lives…one mammogram at a time.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Covid taught us all that there is never a smooth road! The Mammogram Poster Girls (MPG) were just beginning to hit our stride when Covid shut everything down. For the first six months of 2020, screening and diagnostic mammograms (MPG’s main programming) was prohibited to all but the highest-risk patients. Like everyone, we were forced to pivot, so we took the “downtime” and developed new programs. In 2020 our Two-Fer Tuesday (get a mammogram, get a meal) program was born. Two-Fer Tuesday is a collaboration between MPG, local hospitals’ mobile mammography units, and restaurants. MPG provides meals or gift cards, enough to feed a family of four, purchased from local minority and women-owned restaurants, to each patient who receives their screening mammogram on the mobile mammography unit (a “two-fer”). The mobile unit goes into medically underserved neighborhoods throughout southern D/FW, making it easier for women to have access to a screening mammogram, with the added bonus of benefitting those beloved locally-owned, small mom-and-pop restaurants (who were struggling to stay afloat under strict pandemic constraints). Two-Fer Tuesday has been our most successful program yet, and the areas served have expanded far beyond Dallas and Tarrant counties. In 2023, inspired by Jamie Rodriguez, a young woman who died of breast cancer in 2022, MPG developed Jamie’s Light of Love, an initiative to address the lack of access and resources for younger women (under 40) at high risk of developing breast cancer.
In addition to Jamie’s Light of Love and Two-Fer Tuesdays, MPG provides grant funding at Methodist Health System for screening and diagnostic mammograms for under/uninsured women, allowing even more women to become mammogram poster girls.
MPG will continue to grown and create solutions to address the challenges of uninsured and underserved patients to help save lives…one mammogram at a time.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What sets the Mammogram Poster Girls apart from other “pink” nonprofit organizations? MPG is laser focused on early breast cancer detection and preventative screening (rather than research and treatment). Early detection can lead to a better outcome (i.e., longer life), so the Mammogram Poster Girls’ mission is to help save lives…one mammogram at a time. We are an ALL-VOLUNTEER organization. This allows us to keep a low overhead, which enables us to maximize the benefit to the communities we serve—i.e., more money for mammograms!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I had an interesting life growing up. As the oldest child of a Bohemian Montrealer and a West Texas cowboy, I was raised in a small suburban city just outside of Dallas. A paradox of cultures, to say the least… As a child, I was a perfectionist (now in recovery). With the exception of the sweating, I loved playing sports. Not so much for the competition; it was more about working out getting it right/perfect, and smacking stuff (softballs/tennis balls/racquet balls, etc.) helped work off frustration and energy. Pro-tip; a batting cage can provide great stress relief.
On another hand, I was a classically trained pianist–and in fact, this was my “ride” to college. I began taking piano lessons at seven and discovered that along with loving music, I had a talent for it. Bonus? This was yet another way to work out the frustrations of that above-mentioned perfectionism. But I really only played the piano for myself–and I absolutely hated to perform! An extrovert, who was terrified of performing or speaking in public, I switched from the music school and ended up with a degree in Business.
The funny thing is that I can now talk to pretty much anyone, anywhere, from an individual friend to a roomful of strangers. I guess after having breast cancer twice and undergoing several surgeries to completely reconfigure my front end, talking to, and in front of, people is no longer as scary–especially when I am passionately telling my story and that of the Mammogram Poster Girls, what we do, and who and how we help them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mammogrampostergirls.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mammogrampostergirls/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mammogrampostergirls
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/67357028/admin/
- Youtube: @mammogrampostergirls7043
