Meet Sonia Tovalin Ray

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Sonia Tovalin Ray.

Hi Sonia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I am a two-time breast cancer survivor. In 2011, at the age of 34, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. My children were 3 and 5 years old and all I wanted to do was see them grow up. I started my treatment and I have done a lumpectomy, double mastectomy without reconstruction, 35 rounds of radiation, and a year and a half of chemotherapy. I lost my hair and I lost my breast, I was bald, and I was breastless.

But I had to go on for my kids as a very active family. I prayed for the strength to continue to do life as normal as possible and God gave me the grace to do so, faith in God during this time was what got me through the darkest moments. So grateful to the Lord now because my children are 16 and 19 years old. I was given about two years before a recurrence would come about, thanks to God I made it past the five-year mark, which is a magic number.

In year seven in 2018, I had a recurrence stage four, I was told to go home and put my things in order. My amazing husband found a place that would treat me. I was told I would have to be on chemo for the “rest of my life.” I did another year and a half of chemotherapy and I’ve been off of chemo by God’s grace for three years now and I’m doing well.

What seemed to be the hardest time of my life was only the trampoline that propelled me into my destiny. Early on in my diagnosis, I met a lady that encouraged me. We ended up getting together with a group of women and forming a nonprofit organization called Harbor of Hope Inc. in the southside of Atlanta. Because of the aggressiveness of the cancer I was able to visit every major hospital in the state of Georgia and realized very quickly the southside lacked too many resources, so we co-founded Harbor of Hope Inc.

We help women physically through a boutique that has free wigs, bras, prostheses, etc. We also help women emotionally by meeting monthly, losing your hair and your breast is a very emotional journey. We help women financially, even with insurance, this can be a very expensive journey and many women can’t go to work because of the side effects of treatment.

The most important thing we do is help women spiritually; we pray with them, and we share hope, letting them know that God has done for us what he can do for them. Harbor of Hope is expanding, and we have opened a second meeting location in Jackson, Georgia, where there are definitely no resources as it is a very rural area. This is just a bit of a 12-year journey. When we talk, I can certainly fill in a lot more details, and you may have some questions by then too. You can visit our website, haborofhopeinc.com.

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?
In 2011, everything that could go wrong in my treatment or the bumps that happened all happened to me. At the time I did not understand why but now I can look back and see why this is because every time a Pink Sister calls me devastated because something happened to her I can tell her it happened to me and it’s going to be OK.

There was always a purpose behind everything, God had it all planned out. At the time, I was homeschooling, so being in treatment and teaching my children was also a challenge, but we never stopped, as you can see in the pictures.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a stay-at-home mom that never stays home. My heart is for volunteering and advocacy for breast cancer patients. I love to share resources to share hope. One of the things I love to do the most is talking to patients over the phone or in person being able to hug them, and smile at them is the reason I do what I do.

At Harbor of Hope Inc., we are all survivors and we are all volunteers because we know how it feels. We can relate on a one-on-one. I am now serving as president of the foundation and spend my days loving on patients. I guess what it says part is that as I mentioned, we are all volunteers and we’re all survivors and we all serve by visiting patients at chemo treatments, radiation, and surgery, we hold their hands and let them know it’s going to be ok.

Our meetings have very high attendance compared to other meetings, and at any given meeting, we have 35 to 50 women show up. One of the things most proud of is that the women that we helped in previous years now come back as volunteers what an amazing testimony of giving back.

Alright, so before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Of course, as a nonprofit, we always need our donations. We also need volunteers to help us set up and clean up for events and monthly meetings. As of now the board and I volunteers do all this work, but we can always use extra hands.

When it comes to donations, I told the Lord when I took over as president that I would love and serve all the ladies who are in need, but I would never ask for money. So the Lord provides all the time without us, asking for money, but it is in platforms like this or people find out that we are all volunteers and that we serve and they just donate, so I’m very grateful for that.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.harborofhopeinc.com/