In early November of 2018, my husband of thirty years was diagnosed with stage three bladder cancer. The “standard of care” recommended was surgery, which we learned had some very undesirable side effects. He rejected that approach completely.

While waiting to consult a specialist about chemo treatments, we were seated in a room with patients who were receiving those very chemo treatments. As my husband looked around, he was shocked at the worn, weary and haunted look on their faces. It was more than the cancer they were battling but we didn’t know what caused their defeated and hopeless expressions.

During our consultation my husband asked about those patients. The doctor told him they were people who literally had to choose between eating that week or getting their chemo treatment! I had never seen such a look of disbelief and heartbreak on my husband’s face. In the car he turned to me and said, “This cannot be. You have to fix this. Do something about it.”

My husband ultimately chose quality of life over quantity of life and he died in July of 2019, at the age of 78. To keep my promise to “fix” the food versus chemo problem in our community, I arranged for highly nutritious meals to be delivered to patients who could not afford both treatment and food. The doctor was ecstatic and enthusiastic.

Unfortunately, the non-profit he worked with and referred me to was uncooperative. They preferred that I simply write a check to them and then they would determine the use of the funds. That was unacceptable to me and the idea of forming a private foundation took hold.

— Ramona Bryan, Founder

Ramona C. Bryan
Board President
I believe people heal and blossom to their fullest potential when nutritional needs are met. Good nutrition is not the single answer to health and healing but it is most definitely foundational to achieve best outcomes for our well being — especially when combined with rest and exercise.

I sincerely hope that the Bryan Blossom Foundation can make a positive impact by working to educate others about the healing power of the natural life-giving foods this amazing planet provides us. It is ancient wisdom famously expressed in the maxim: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Joann Doyle
Board Treasurer
I have always had an awareness of how food plays a critical role in our everyday life. I came to more closely recognize this importance as I grew older.

When I was younger at the dinner table, I recall there was always a protein, a vegetable, and some starch for dinner. In my family, dessert was limited, along with “junk food”. I was an active child, slender and healthy. While I had the occasional cold, I was overall a very healthy child, and my parents and sister enjoyed similar good health. One could argue that we simply had good genes, but I believe that our healthy diet, and lack of junk food, were the main reasons behind our good health.

As an adult, I can eat what I want. Interestingly, I still choose to eat the same healthy foods as I did when I was a child, and my good health continues today. I believe that food has a powerful impact on our health, and having a healthy relationship with food is essential.

I find the old adage “we are what we eat” to carry an enormous amount of truth. I personally do not want to take an over the counter pill to prevent my heartburn. I don’t want to take a pill because I have high cholesterol. I also don’t want to pay a monthly subscription to a diet program.

I’m excited to serve as a board member for the Bryan Blossom Foundation because I believe that nutrition plays a vital role in our lives, and I look forward to helping to impart that critical message to more people. By partnering with educators, health practitioners, and others in the field of nutrition and integrative medicine, I’m looking forward to helping the Bryan Blossom Foundation to further holistic approaches for disease prevention and management.

Janet Evans
Board Secretary
I became involved with the Bryan Blossom Foundation because I personally have experienced how food can be used to mediate illness. By following a diet that addressed a chronic autoimmune disease and a hormonal imbalance caused by acute stress, I was able to rebalance my hormones and push the disease into remission before my condition cascaded into a much more serious state. Now I maintain a status of well-being and I work to avert further imbalance and disease.
Anyone who has endured its loss knows that health is the most fundamental form of wealth. Unfortunately, too often we learn of its value only after the loss of our health negatively impacts our finances, our relationships, and our quality of life.

While there are many factors that we can’t control, we can control the choices we make. Our well-being is influenced by the cumulative effect of our daily habits, and the consequences of those habits compound as we age. We can choose to be mindful of how we care for our bodies, or we can choose to be neglectful. I’ve seen people take better care of their cars than of their own bodies, and you can’t trade in your body for a new one!

It’s difficult to navigate through the constant advances in agriculture and food science and the barrage of information and misinformation. This is why I am involved with the Bryan Blossom Foundation. It is dedicated to supporting quality research and to sharing accurate and accountable information to help individuals and communities make informed decisions that support their goals of attaining and maintaining healthy bodies.

Hollie Quinn
Director
I jumped at the opportunity to help develop and grow the Bryan Blossom Foundation, as nutrition and health are topics near and dear to my heart. For more than 20 years, I successfully have used nutritional science and herbal medicine to heal myself of different breast cancers. Every day, I strive to live the mission of this organization.

In 2002, I was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer at age 27 and while 38 weeks pregnant. My husband and I used our training as social scientists to dive deep into cancer treatments, including those not considered part of the standard-of-care model. This led me to work with an integrative medicine cancer clinic where I completely transformed my diet and made other dramatic lifestyle changes. I also began taking an intense herbal medicine treatment protocol that was tailored to my specific cancer and my individual biomarkers.

Having previously had a diet filled with processed foods and sugar and low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, I converted my diet and reaped the benefits immediately with more energy, vitality, and most importantly, more health! Many of us can recall times when we ate poorly, and how it made us feel, such as
being tired, having difficulty focusing, or experiencing physical discomfort. Conversely, a nutritious meal leaves us feeling energized and satisfied. Preparing our own foods can itself be a healing, meditative, and joyful process, especially when we share it with others.

As a graduate of the University of Chicago with decades of research, organizational, grantmaking and analytical experience, I am so excited to work alongside other similar minded souls to create a foundation whose goal is to help more people experience the benefits of improved nutrition and health.