We had the good fortune of connecting with Mary Jones and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Your Life or Your Dreams: What a terrible decision to have to make. Choose to submit to the toxic treatment that will save your life and you may lose your dream of having a child. It happens to many young people each year. For TEAM Maggie’s Dream (501c3 non-profit) namesake Maggie Davis it was a blindside. She needed to focus on her brutal, cancer treatment, but instead she was worried about never having children. Sure, there are other ways to have a family but the childhood dream of many little girls had just been removed as an option.

Maggie is my daughter and to see her heart broken at 24 about not having the opportunity to have a biological child on top of a cancer diagnosis was devastating for both of us. Maggie’s journey made us talk about how fortunate she was to have the chance to harvest her eggs before treatment. Just knowing she had saved eggs and they were in the freezer made her so happy. With her spirit lifted and a big smile on her face she happily walked into chemotherapy and ready to fight off the cancer. This is when Team Maggie’s Dream was born. We wanted everyone that wanted a family to have the same opportunity as Maggie did and there were no resource available and Insurance did not cover this cost.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I worked for an insurance company that had 3 locations when I started and we grew it to 450 locations in 12 states. It became a publicly traded Company and I became VP of Sales. I loved my job, the people and couldn’t wait to get up in the morning to go to work. The business knowledge I learned through that job taught me it was ok to step out and try things. Sometimes you will fail but you get back up learn from it and try again. I also learned people are different and that’s ok. Help them develop their good qualities to get the job done. All of these life lessons came into play when my daughter was diagnosed with cancer at age 24 and we saw there were no resources available to help young adults with cancer go through fertility preservation. The cost is upwards of $10,000. Less than half of the young people from 15-37 were and still aren’t given the information that their cancer treatment will likely cause infertility. If they are given the information they learn insurance does not cover it and the cost has to be paid upfront, today as you need to get into chemotherapy. This often is more devastating than hearing they have cancer. Once they have harvested their eggs or banked their sperm they have a renewed uplift spirit knowing their dream of family is still alive. Team Maggie’s Dream was created to help them cover some of the cost of fertility preservation.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would visit Downtown Roswell and visit the stores there. Eat at Ipps and Zest. We would also visit the Atlanta Zoo and the Aquarium.
Eat at Fogo de Chao
We would also visit Alpharetta

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people I would like to shoutout how amazing they are. Without the Board of Directors and Medical Advisory Board who volunteer their time to review each application, make hard decisions, support Team Maggie’s Dream events, donate to and are ambassadors for Team Maggie’s Dream our organization would not exist. These Board Members all maintain a demanding jobs, have families, and volunteer for Team Maggie’s Dream.

Many of the board members have been with us since we started in 2015 and everyone of them is passionate about our cause.

Website: https://www.teammaggiesdream.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teammaggiesdream/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marydavisjones/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Teammaggie1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamMaggieForACure

Image Credits
Jennifer Jones Photography Tom Grason Photography

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