Perseverance with Purpose
Health challenge creates purpose for campus event coordinator
By BoNhia Lee
Unable to walk through Vintage Days like she did every other year because of ongoing breast cancer treatment in April 2023, Shawna Blair watched from the third-floor windows in the Resnick Student Union as thousands enjoyed the festival below.
From the third-floor windows of the Resnick Student Union in April 2023, Shawna Blair caught a glimpse of the bustling Vintage Days celebration below.
In her five years as coordinator of major events and staff development for the Student Involvement Center, which includes leading students in the planning of Vintage Days, 2023 was her biggest challenge.
The three-day festival was relocated from the grassy area in front of the Satellite Student Union to the parking lots between student housing and the new Resnick Student Union because of construction on campus. Blair and the student planning committee didn’t know what to expect.
And during much of the planning that year, Blair worked virtually from home and from the chair she sat in while receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Still undergoing treatment until that June, Blair couldn’t walk through Vintage Days like she did every other year talking to vendors, colleagues and old students who worked for her. So, she mustered up what energy she had to take a peek at her team’s hard work — from a safe distance high above.
Now cancer free, Blair had reconstruction surgery in February and returned to work just in time to finish planning and celebrating the 50th Vintage Days festival on campus.
“I’m always amazed every year of what we make happen,” says Blair, a two-time alumna. “I was at home doing what I could, working remotely, but showing that things are still possible. I may have cancer. I am not cancer.
It is a part of me now, but it is not me. It’s not all of me.”
Getting Involved
Vintage Days was one of the campus events that Blair always wanted to help plan when she was a student in the early 2000s. Originally from Madera Ranchos, she sold corn dogs as part of the Catholic Student Association, but didn’t have time to do more. Blair was a student employee for the Student Union, worked in the old campus post office, was a senator for Associated Students, Inc. and a student coordinator for USU Productions on top of her studies as a recreation administration and leisure studies major.
She would later earn her master’s degree from Fresno State in education administration and supervision and was named a Graduate Dean’s Medalist upon graduation. She was hired by the Student Union in 2006, where she oversaw USU Productions, now known as Spotlight Events. In 2019, she became coordinator for major events: Welcome Week, homecoming, commencement and Vintage Days.
“Part of my goal is that [students] have the same experience that I had,” Blair says. “That we can help them feel like Fresno State cares that they belong. Give them something fun and exciting to do and to really say that ‘I love Fresno State’ and ‘why not Fresno State?’”
Health Challenge
Alumna Shawna Blair wants to share her story and become a breast cancer educator. Her future goal includes bringing a breast cancer walk back to Fresno, potentially on campus.
Blair felt a sharp pain in her chest after finishing her lunch on campus one day in summer 2022. She thought it was a heart attack, but a visit to the emergency room ruled out any problems. A follow up with her general practitioner uncovered a problem with her gallbladder, which would need to be removed.
But Blair soon noticed something else — a lump in her left breast. She had just turned 40 that summer. It was a two-month wait after her initial doctor’s appointment for a mammogram. She knew she had to be seen, so Blair put herself on the waitlist and checked in with the medical office often to see if there were any cancellations. The call for a mammogram and ultrasound came in November. The results of the scans were not good, and she got in quickly for a biopsy.
“That day, they told me it might be cancer. I went out to the car, had a few tears and then was like, ‘I’ve got somewhere to be. Pick yourself up and go,’” Blair says.
One in eight women, or about 13% of the female population, in the United States, will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. About 30% of all new female cancer diagnoses will be breast cancer and 9% of all new cases are diagnosed in women younger than 45 years old.
About a week later, she had her gallbladder removed and received the official confirmation of her breast cancer diagnosis. The following weeks were a whirlwind, she says. To keep her stress level down, her headspace in the right place and her body healing, Blair ordered a hat that said “breast cancer warrior” and T-shirts with positive sayings related to breast cancer.
She started a six-month chemotherapy treatment in January 2023 where she met her “breasties,” new friends also undergoing treatment. They would schedule their appointments together as the weeks rolled by. And Blair kept working.
“I was immuno-compromised so I worked remotely. Last year, when I was in the thick of it — planning Vintage Days — I was able to Zoom in,” Blair says. “The staff helped out when they could. I was texting them reminders and doing whatever I could to be supportive from home. They did a really amazing job.”
Fresno State colleague and friend Patricia Benavidas had to remind Blair often to stop calling and to rest. Blair is of that era where you give 110% at work, maybe only 90% on your lowest days, Benavidas says.
“I have a lot of respect for her and her work ethic,” Benavidas says. “She’s dedicated a lot of herself to her work. I said let this be a lesson for you to put that same commitment into yourself.”
Blair finished chemotherapy on June 22, 2023, and Benavidas was there to present her with a silver crown and pink feather boa. There were cookies and Blair handed gifts to her “breasties” and nurses. Benavidas handed pink ribbon stickers to the Student Involvement staff and encouraged them to send Blair photos of support.
“We made it a party for everybody,” Benavides says. “We’re event planners, our job is to make people feel welcome and to have a sense of belonging. We’re always trying to celebrate.”
Recovery
Blair walked the Christmas in July 5K in Fresno a month after she finished chemo. It was a goal she made when her breast cancer journey started six months before. Then she had a double mastectomy. By early August, she was in remission and cancer free.
She has some lingering side effects from her illness and will remain on medication and treatment for some time.
“Right now you push through it and do what you can and try to stay positive,” Blair says.
Now, she wants to share her story and become a breast cancer educator. She met a 26-year-old and a 24-year-old also undergoing chemotherapy at the same time she did. And Blair recognizes that she works with young people every day.
“[This disease] is hitting younger people,” Blair says. “The one thing you can do for yourself is to do self checks and get yourself into a doctor.”
“I hope to start doing presentations or workshops, not only about my story, but to provide information, to bring purpose to this,” Blair says. “It helps me.”
Her future goal includes bringing a breast cancer walk back to Fresno, maybe even to Fresno State.
– BoNhia Lee is a communications specialist at Fresno State.
Top Photo: Now cancer free, Shawna Blair had surgery in February and returned to work just in time to finish planning and celebrating Fresno State’s 50th Vintage Days festival on campus. As the coordinator for major events and staff development on campus, Vintage Days is one of Blair’s biggest responsibilities each year.
