For Breast Cancer Survivor Tonya Allen, Giving Back Is Second Nature

Survivor Tonya Allen, librarian at Minor Elementary School, is celebrating her 4th year of fighting and raising awareness of the disease. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times)
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By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times

Bessemer, Alabama, native Tonya Allen remembers a trip to St. Vincent’s Hospital (now Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham) in 2020 for a routine checkup.

“My doctor is my [Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.], sister Brenda Taylor. She likes to sit down and hash things over. I said, ‘OK, I’ve got to get back to work now.’ I had already had a 2D mammogram previously, and that day she actually ordered 2D and 3D mammograms that were able to pick up something on my right breast. [I] went through Christmas worrying, and by the second week of January they confirmed that I had being diagnosed with breast cancer,” Allen recalled.

“Here I am thinking I was at the top of my game,” she added. “I was a student at [the University of] West Alabama, working on my certification to become an administrator.”

Mammogram Options

According to BreastCancer.org, “Two types of mammograms are available in the United States: 3D mammograms—also called digital breast tomosynthesis, digital tomosynthesis, or just tomosynthesis—and 2D digital mammograms. Both 2D and 3D mammograms are done in the same way and take the same amount of time.

A 3D mammogram creates a 3D image of each breast using several X-ray images from different angles around the breast, [allowing for a more thorough assessment]. A 2D digital mammogram creates a 2D image of each breast using two X-ray images of each breast. …”

After being diagnosed with breast cancer, revealed following both types of mammograms, Allen—who has served as a kindergarten teacher and librarian for the Birmingham City Schools (BCS) system for 26 years—briefly went into a period of sadness.

Faith

“Mentally, I shut down,” she said. “I felt like my life was over. I had to really pull on my faith to help me understand, [so] I reflected on some of the scriptures I learned when I was young.”

Allen learned of her diagnosis in 2020, around the time the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns were put in place, so she spent a lot of time in the hospital alone or communicating with her husband virtually through FaceTime and Zoom.

“God held my hand. … My faith is what help me make it through,” said Allen, who added that two particular Bible scriptures sustained her.

“From Psalm 118:17 [New International Version (NIV)], ‘I will not die but live.’ I recited that often. And from Isaiah 61:3 [NIV], He will give you ‘a crown of beauty instead of ashes,’ even though it didn’t look beautiful when I made it through,” Allen said.

Survivor Tonya Allen, with a proclamation from the Jefferson County Commission, has found a way to help others through an upcoming Stomp Out Breast Cancer event on Oct. 11 at Minor Elementary School where she works 2023 to celebrate her 4th year of fighting and raising awareness of the disease. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times)

Support Groups

Allen is very active with groups that promote breast cancer awareness.

For years, she has been involved with Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies (BBBB), a Birmingham-based 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting people with breast cancer, as well as providing education and promoting early detection of breast cancer in minority, low-income, and underserved communities. Among other things, the organization works with local healthcare providers to cover mammogram costs for women and men, and it assists with transportation to treatment for those diagnosed with breast cancer.

BBBB also hosts the annual Sistah Strut—which took place on Saturday, September 28, at Birmingham’s Legion Field—a fundraising event designed to celebrate breast cancer survivors, promote breast cancer screening, and raise money for free mammograms for uninsured, low-income women. In 2023, BBBB honored Allen with its Brownie Award, which is awarded to breast cancer survivors during the organization’s annual Pink Hat and Tie Luncheon.

Allen also supports PinkTopps Inc., a Bessemer-based organization that focuses on “early detection of breast cancer for women and men under 40 … [by offering] overall breast health education, well-being, and support through advocacy awareness.” PinkTopps presented its 2022–2023 Warrior Award to Allen.

In addition, Allen’s efforts to raise awareness about and support individuals and families dealing with breast cancer have been recognized by Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Tyson, who presented a Resolution to Allen in 2023.

Allen also gets her students involved in helping those dealing with breast cancer. Every year, the Minor Elementary School librarian hosts the “Pink Out,” an event that focuses on breast cancer survivors and their families and celebrates the lives of those who have passed away as a result of their battle with breast cancer. The fourth annual Pink Out will be held on Friday, October 11, at the school beginning at 9:30 a.m.

“The kids dress up in pink, whatever attire they can find that is pink. We ask them for a donation through our PTA, and every single penny is given to the two organizations that helped me during my fight: BBBB and Pink Topps,” said Allen. “I use this platform to help others. … We have had several parents and grandparents who have gone through their battles, and I’ve been there to help push them and help provide resources for them.”

Helping Those Who Are Less Fortunate

Survivor Tonya Allen has found a way to help others through an upcoming Stomp Out Breast Cancer event on Oct. 11 at Minor Elementary School where she works. (Amarr Croskey Photos, For The Birmingham Times)

Giving back has been the norm for Allen since she was a child. Born and raised in Bessemer, she attended Jess Lainer High School, where she participated in several extracurricular activities, including Peer Assisted Learning/Literacy Strategies (PALS), a tutoring strategy through which students are divided into pairs and alternate between the role of the tutor and tutee.

“Of course, I was a dance girl, too, and I tried to do a lot of studying and volunteer things because of the church I grew up in,” she said, speaking about her church, Restoration Revival Tabernacle, which instilled in her the importance of giving back.

In addition to the influence of her church, Allen and her younger brother, Tommy Spencer, were raised by her their grandparents, mother, and father to “help people who were less fortunate.”

After graduating from Jess Lanier in 1993, Allen attended Alabama State University (ASU) in Montgomery, Alabama, for one year before transferring to Samford University in Homewood, Alabama, in 1994.

“I was that little young girl who wanted to get away from home, so I started at ASU for my undergraduate [studies] and then I transferred. My mom worked at [Samford] as a custodian, so I was able to attend tuition-free. I was blessed in that with God. [At the time], I didn’t see His blessing because I was back home under [my family’s] wings, but it truly was a blessing.”

Cancer Free

Today, Allen is cancer free: “My struggle was not as bad as others. … I went ahead and had a double mastectomy,” a “surgery that removes breast tissue,” according to BreastCancer.org.

A mastectomy, the website explains, is “used to treat breast cancer or to lower the risk of breast cancer developing in people at high risk for the disease (prophylactic mastectomy). Some types of mastectomy remove the entire breast, while other types keep some or all of the breast skin, the nipple, and the areola intact. ….”

Allen’s doctors had recommended a lumpectomy, a surgery that removes a breast cancer tumor and the rim of healthy tissue surrounding it (called the margin), according to BreastCancer.org

“The doctors were leaning toward a lumpectomy. I talked to one person who told me she had it and the results were a little bit different for her; [the cancer] jumped to the other breast,” Allen said, adding, “I had been praying to God to tell me what to do.”

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