A LIVING TESTIMONY: THE INSPIRING STORY OF SALLIE DENEEN

VOID-JONES

By Shaquetta Pelzer

Often, we go through life feeling defeated or anxiously anticipating the next "bad thing" lurking around the corner, dreading the challenges we feel we cannot bear. We count these challenges on our fingers, using them as reasons to complain and justify living in bitterness or drowning in selfpity with a "why me" mentality.

This isn't true for Sallie Deneen Void-Jones, affectionately known as "Neen." Despite having every reason to complain, she never does. If you look up the word "strength" in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Neen, smiling beside it.

Neen faced her first serious health issue at an early age: endometrial cancer. This type of cancer, affecting the uterus or womb, is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs.

“I knew nothing about dealing with cancer at that time because we weren’t educated on this topic like people are today. I just trusted my doctor and his plan,” Neen said.

I was heartbroken, devastated and didn’t really know how I would make it through, but by the grace of God and with the support of so many that loved ‘Metrius,’ I, somehow, made it through.

In the United States, endometrial cancer affects 65,000 women annually, more than the combined cases of cervical and ovarian cancer. While most instances occur after age 55, Neen was just 27 years old.

Having given birth to her oldest son, TaCobi, at age 18 and her youngest son, Demetrius, at age 25, Neen was blessed to have brought two joys into her life before her diagnosis. At age 32, she underwent the first of many surgeries, a full hysterectomy. Though this ended any plans of having more children to share her incredibly huge heart with, she is grateful to have birthed two exceptional men.

Following in the footsteps of several brave military men in their family, her youngest son, Demetrius, enlisted in the United States Army in 2008 after graduating high school. The very next year, Neen was diagnosed with another form of cancer, this time in her right breast. After undergoing a mastectomy to remove her right breast and lymph nodes, doctors successfully removed all the cancer. Neen then began chemotherapy and radiation treatments to ensure the cancer would not return in that breast. While undergoing these treatments, she faced perhaps the hardest battle of her life.

I knew nothing about dealing with cancer at that time because we weren’t educated on this topic like people are today. I just trusted my doctor and his plan.

While at her long-time job at the local grocery store, Neen received a phone call that would change her life forever. It was 6:30 a.m. when her son, Cobi, called and told her to come home immediately, without giving any reason.

Rushing home as quickly as she could, Neen imagined numerous scenarios for why she was called back so soon after leaving. However, no amount of thinking could have prepared her for what she saw as she turned into her driveway.

A vehicle with the United States

Army symbol on the door, alongside her brother-in-law’s car, immediately stood out to her. Fear gripped her. She knew it was something bad about her baby boy.

Having to hear two Army officials, clad in their military uniform and regalia, will forever be burned in her memory as she recalls them relaying the gut-wrenching news that her son, Sergeant Demetrius Void, also known as

“Metrius,” was struck by a military vehicle in Kandahar, Afghanistan and had succumbed to his injuries on Sept 15, 2009.

This pain, which ached much more than any cut of a surgeon’s scalpel where no amount of anesthesia could numb, was nothing she could prepare herself for. It was her worst nightmare - every mother's nightmare. She would have to bury her baby boy.

I was still overcoming breast cancer when my baby was killed and now this. I knew he would want me to be strong. Instead of fully dealing with his death, I focused on fighting the battle of having cancer for a third time because I had another son and family who needed me. I had to fight extra hard to win another battle.

“I was heartbroken, devastated and didn’t really know how I would make it through, but by the grace of God and with the support of so many that loved ‘Metrius,’ I, somehow, made it through.”

Neen was now in the battle of her life. Trying to heal her body while struggling to let God heal her heart at the same time.

While grieving for her youngest son and supporting her oldest, who was also mourning the loss of his brother, Neen still had to continue her treatments and focus on healing her body.

Then, just two months after losing her son, cancer reared its ugly head once more. This time, it was laryngeal cancer.

As a result of the radiation treatments, a tumor formed in her voice box. Left unnoticed, the tumor then turned to cancer. Neen found herself once again on the front lines, battling this horrible disease.

“I was still overcoming breast cancer when my baby was killed and now this. I knew he would want me to be strong. Instead of fully dealing with his death, I focused on fighting the battle of having cancer for a third time because I had another son and family who needed me. I had to fight extra hard to win another battle,” Neen said.

The following year, she was done with chemotherapy and radiation. God had healed the cancer. He was still working on her heart.

Sallie Void became Sallie Void-Jones when she married her longtime sweetheart, Curtis, in the presence of their friends, family and loved ones. She was seeking a bit of happiness while her heart was healing.

Neen said, “I had gone through so much lately that I just wanted a bit of joy, though it was short lived.”

In 2011, she underwent surgery to have her voice box replaced with an artificial one, which required her to learn how to use her voice again.

Over the next 13 years, she faced numerous health issues and underwent more than 100 surgeries, including:

• Peg 1 feeding tube placements at ages 46 and 51;

• Three heart attacks and a defibrillator implant at age 53;

• Two coronary stent placements at ages 51 and 56;

• Cancer in the left breast at age 58;

• A leadless pacemaker implant at age 59; and

• Three rounds of radiation and chemotherapy.

While many may say, "That's too much" or "I don't see how she did it," Neen gives all the credit to God. Her fiercely devoted son, Cobi, has also been her rock throughout this journey, selflessly supporting her. He accompanies her to numerous appointments, sometimes multiple in a day, and provides whatever help she needs.

Despite her many health issues and significant losses, Neen refuses to let these challenges control her life. She remains a pillar of support for those around her, serving as a living testimony to the strength one can possess when allowing God to carry them through difficult moments.

"I want to be a living testimony to others of what God can do when you trust Him with what you’re going through. Bearing life’s burdens is easier when we let Him help us carry the load."