August 15, 2025 • 10 mins
This week, we remember Anita Conner, Co-Founder of the breast cancer awareness and resource nonprofit Praise Is the Cure, who was laid to rest alongside the memory of her late daughter, Kerri Conner Matchet. Anita and her family launched the organization to provide life-saving resources and mammograms, partnering with trusted messengers in faith-based institutions to reach women in need. Looking back through my archives, I found an interview from 2022 with Anita and her son, John, that captured her passion, determination, and commitment to the community. Anita Marie Thorne Conner — loving wife, devoted mother, cherished grandmother, trailblazing businesswoman, and founder of Praise Is the Cure — was born October 14, 1956, and was called home on August 4, 2025. Her legacy lives on through the countless lives she touched and the vital work of her organization.
Learn more and support the mission at: www.praiseisthecure.org
📘 Facebook: @PraiseIsTheCure
📸 Instagram: @praiseisthecure
🐦 X (Twitter): @PraiseIsTheCure
Learn more and support the mission at: www.praiseisthecure.org
📘 Facebook: @PraiseIsTheCure
📸 Instagram: @praiseisthecure
🐦 X (Twitter): @PraiseIsTheCure
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Baller. Tomorrow, more than one hundred
thousand children and adults across the US are waiting for
an organ transplant to survive. Nearly sixty percent of them
are from black and brown communities. Today we observe National
Minority Donor Awareness Month, and we continue to shine a
light on the urgent need for organ donation. First, Anita Connor,
(00:24):
along with her late daughter Carrie Connor Matchett, co founded
the Breast Cancer Awareness and Resource nonprofit Praise is the
Cure She was laid to rest this week. Anita and
her family started the nonprofit to provide resources, awareness, and
mammograms with the help of the trusted messengers in faith
based institutions. Looking back at my archives, I found an
(00:48):
interview I did with Anita and her son John back
in twenty twenty two. Here's an excerpt. Breast cancer is
a disease that affects so many women in the African
American commune. African American women are less likely than the
general population to get breast cancer, but are more likely
to die from it. It is still an issue that
(01:10):
affects all of us. Who doesn't know someone who has
been touched by breast cancer. One such individual has been
touched by this disease and has overcome it and has
gone way beyond that by creating a movement called Praise
is the Cure. Her name is Anita Connor and she
is the founder of Praise is the Cure. And joining
us in the studio is Anita along with her son,
(01:31):
John Connor, who's the executive director of the George Ethorne
Development Center. We're going to talk about Praise is the Cure.
First of all, welcome back, and it always a pleasure
to see you.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I'm glad to be back.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Lorene.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Well, We've talked about your story so many times, but
I never tire of hearing about it because it is
such an inspiring story. You were diagnosed with breast cancer,
but by the time you were diagnosed, you'd been misdiagnosed
a number of times. It was quite advanced, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes, by the time we actually realized that I had
breast cancer was like a high stage three and it
had spread. It spread to my lymph News seventy five
percent of every cell they tested was malignant. So my
prognosis wasn't good at that point. But you know, to
God by the Glory, I'm here to share my story.
And that's why we create a Praise a secure to
(02:22):
help motivate our women to get screenings and treatment.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We're going to get back into a little bit of
the personal, but before we do that, I like to
talk about how important and how actually effective it is
to really reach out to the faith based community to
get the message out. We know that none of us
wants to go to the doctor. Many of us don't go,
but reaching out through the faith based community is one
(02:47):
way of getting the message out about how important it
is to get those checkups.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yes, you know, we're not a very trusting community, and
one place that we do trust in, one place that
we do gather and we get uplifted, is our faith
based community. And so that's why we wanted to partner
with the faith based community to help get this message out,
because we figured we could reach the greatest number and
make the biggest impact through the community. That's where we
(03:13):
should be talking about and helping each other and encouraging
each other in our churches and other religious organizations.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
One of the things that I think is so critical
when we talk about breast cancer is in particular in
communities of color, that we do have a certain amount
of suspicion about the medical profession based on unfortunate history
along and troubled history. But we also know that it's
(03:43):
incredibly important for women to get checked out, and also
early detection really is the answer, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Early detection is the key. But in addition to that,
one of the problems we have in our community is
that because we are we don't get involved in studies,
in clinical trials and things of that nature, that the
medical community they don't know a lot about African American women. Unfortunately,
my daughter was diagnosed ten years after I was diagnosed,
(04:12):
and and she was treated by the same doctor I
was treated. She had a different kind of cancer, and
one of the things he said to us, you know,
was that it's just unfortunate that we don't know a
lot about African American women when he was trying to
determine what her protocol was going to be. So, you know,
I encourage I did take part in a clinical trial.
I took part in stem cell transplant. I'm sure everyone's
(04:33):
heard of stem cell and it was a grueling process,
but you know, it worked for me, you know, And
I encourage our community to take you know, to get
involved in clinical trials. I know we have a very
bad history with clinical trials and distrusting the medical community,
but the only way they're going to learn about us
and be able to treat us is if we take
(04:54):
part in some of these studies. So I encourage the
community to do that.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I'd like to talk back to the personal and speak
to John next. And you know, certainly as a son
and as a young man, being able to kind of
understand and really deal with the fact that someone you
love so very dearly is diagnosed with breast cancer must
(05:18):
have been a very challenging thing for you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yes, it was. When we found out that my mother
had such a serious case of breast cancer, it was
a surprise to our whole family, and with her being
such an important part of my life and she was
basically my backbone, I didn't know what I was going
to do if she wasn't going to be here anymore.
(05:40):
So it was a real had a real heavy impact
on our whole family.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, I think that one of the things we often
forget about you know, we concentrate on the person who
is fighting the breast cancer, but sometimes the family is
suffering and having so much impact on their own emails
as well, just trying to figure out, how do I
cope with this? What do I say? What do I do?
(06:05):
You know? I mean, I know that that must have
been a growing process for you, Anita.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
It was a growing process, and I could we could
see the impact that we had on the family. My husband,
he didn't know really, you know, how to handle me,
what to do, what to say. And the children. John
is the youngest, so you know, they didn't even tell him.
They didn't even communicate to him what was going on.
You know, I just assumed that they did. You know,
he was always a quiet, kind of a lone or
(06:31):
kind of guy. I just assumed that he would he
knew and just was being, you know, just quiet about it.
But he never knew. They never had a conversation with him.
And that's why we expanded our program to real men.
We're pink in our children's festivals because breast cancer is
a whole family issue. We felt the need that, you know,
the children need to have a better understanding of what's
(06:53):
going on. You know, the families go through it's not
just breast cancer, but we go through all kinds of
difficult things, and you know, we need to let children
know that it's going to be okay. We need to
show the parents how to talk to their children about
these kinds of things. So that's why we have our
Children's Festival. We have our real men we're pink, so
we can teach them about caregiving and teach them how
to take care of themselves as well, because it is
(07:15):
a family affair.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, I think that for men it must be particularly
challenging because men aren't really taught how to really deal
with these kinds of emotions and they want to be strong.
Maybe they think they have to be strong, but sometimes
to be vulnerable is the appropriate thing to do, to
be able to, you know, just cry. You know, I'm
(07:39):
sure a lot of men feel like they can't do that.
They've got to be strong for their family. But you know,
sometimes it's.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Okay, Yeah, it's okay, And you know they are scared
and don't know what to do, and they're not sure,
you know, what's life going to be like without you know,
their loved one, and you know, what should they be
doing what should they be saying. Sometimes they just need
to and be still, but they just don't know, or
just talking to other men that are going through similar situations.
They're not out there alone, you know. So it's very important.
(08:07):
Like I say, breast cancer, like all illnesses, is a family.
It's a family affair. You know, everybody is suffering.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, Anita, I just have to give you some major props.
You started out with an idea, with a vision, and
it just you started with a couple of churches and
now you're going to try to reach so many people.
It's just expanded and grown and it's just shows you
the power of an individual vision. You've made it come
true and it's just getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
It is it is. This was not the vision at all.
So but you know we're blessed. We can't complain at all.
We know we're reaching a lot of people through all
of the events. We have expanded from just being an
awareness event to awareness, intervention and prevention.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yes, and you've touched so many people. I'm sure you
have saved lives.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yes, we have, we really have. Just you know, as
an aside our mammograms, the women have gotten mammograms have
had to be called back for additional screenings and testings,
so we know that we're helping to save lives.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
If people like more information about Praise is Secure and
also the George Ethorn Development Center, how do they find
out more?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They can go on the web our website which is
www dot Praise Isthecure dot org, or you can give
us a call at two one five six three five
ten twenty five.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I want to thank you both so much. Anita Connor,
who's the founder of Praise Is the Cure and the
George Ethorn Development Center is the executive director of that
is John Connor. I want to thank you both for
joining us today.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Thank you, thank for having us.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Anita Marie Thornconnor, loving wife, devoted mother, cherished grandmother, trailblazing
business person and co founder of Praise Is the Cure
was born October fourteenth, nineteen fifty six and called home
August fourth, twenty Twe we'll have more insight after these
messages
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Baller. Tomorrow, more than one hundred
thousand children and adults across the US are waiting for
an organ transplant to survive. Nearly sixty percent of them
are from black and brown communities. Today we observe National
Minority Donor Awareness Month, and we continue to shine a
light on the urgent need for organ donation. First, Anita Connor,
(00:24):
along with her late daughter Carrie Connor Matchett, co founded
the Breast Cancer Awareness and Resource nonprofit Praise is the
Cure She was laid to rest this week. Anita and
her family started the nonprofit to provide resources, awareness, and
mammograms with the help of the trusted messengers in faith
based institutions. Looking back at my archives, I found an
(00:48):
interview I did with Anita and her son John back
in twenty twenty two. Here's an excerpt. Breast cancer is
a disease that affects so many women in the African
American commune. African American women are less likely than the
general population to get breast cancer, but are more likely
to die from it. It is still an issue that
(01:10):
affects all of us. Who doesn't know someone who has
been touched by breast cancer. One such individual has been
touched by this disease and has overcome it and has
gone way beyond that by creating a movement called Praise
is the Cure. Her name is Anita Connor and she
is the founder of Praise is the Cure. And joining
us in the studio is Anita along with her son,
(01:31):
John Connor, who's the executive director of the George Ethorne
Development Center. We're going to talk about Praise is the Cure.
First of all, welcome back, and it always a pleasure
to see you.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I'm glad to be back.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Lorene.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Well, We've talked about your story so many times, but
I never tire of hearing about it because it is
such an inspiring story. You were diagnosed with breast cancer,
but by the time you were diagnosed, you'd been misdiagnosed
a number of times. It was quite advanced, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes, by the time we actually realized that I had
breast cancer was like a high stage three and it
had spread. It spread to my lymph News seventy five
percent of every cell they tested was malignant. So my
prognosis wasn't good at that point. But you know, to
God by the Glory, I'm here to share my story.
And that's why we create a Praise a secure to
(02:22):
help motivate our women to get screenings and treatment.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We're going to get back into a little bit of
the personal, but before we do that, I like to
talk about how important and how actually effective it is
to really reach out to the faith based community to
get the message out. We know that none of us
wants to go to the doctor. Many of us don't go,
but reaching out through the faith based community is one
(02:47):
way of getting the message out about how important it
is to get those checkups.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yes, you know, we're not a very trusting community, and
one place that we do trust in, one place that
we do gather and we get uplifted, is our faith
based community. And so that's why we wanted to partner
with the faith based community to help get this message out,
because we figured we could reach the greatest number and
make the biggest impact through the community. That's where we
(03:13):
should be talking about and helping each other and encouraging
each other in our churches and other religious organizations.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
One of the things that I think is so critical
when we talk about breast cancer is in particular in
communities of color, that we do have a certain amount
of suspicion about the medical profession based on unfortunate history
along and troubled history. But we also know that it's
(03:43):
incredibly important for women to get checked out, and also
early detection really is the answer, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Early detection is the key. But in addition to that,
one of the problems we have in our community is
that because we are we don't get involved in studies,
in clinical trials and things of that nature, that the
medical community they don't know a lot about African American women. Unfortunately,
my daughter was diagnosed ten years after I was diagnosed,
(04:12):
and and she was treated by the same doctor I
was treated. She had a different kind of cancer, and
one of the things he said to us, you know,
was that it's just unfortunate that we don't know a
lot about African American women when he was trying to
determine what her protocol was going to be. So, you know,
I encourage I did take part in a clinical trial.
I took part in stem cell transplant. I'm sure everyone's
(04:33):
heard of stem cell and it was a grueling process,
but you know, it worked for me, you know, And
I encourage our community to take you know, to get
involved in clinical trials. I know we have a very
bad history with clinical trials and distrusting the medical community,
but the only way they're going to learn about us
and be able to treat us is if we take
(04:54):
part in some of these studies. So I encourage the
community to do that.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I'd like to talk back to the personal and speak
to John next. And you know, certainly as a son
and as a young man, being able to kind of
understand and really deal with the fact that someone you
love so very dearly is diagnosed with breast cancer must
(05:18):
have been a very challenging thing for you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yes, it was. When we found out that my mother
had such a serious case of breast cancer, it was
a surprise to our whole family, and with her being
such an important part of my life and she was
basically my backbone, I didn't know what I was going
to do if she wasn't going to be here anymore.
(05:40):
So it was a real had a real heavy impact
on our whole family.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, I think that one of the things we often
forget about you know, we concentrate on the person who
is fighting the breast cancer, but sometimes the family is
suffering and having so much impact on their own emails
as well, just trying to figure out, how do I
cope with this? What do I say? What do I do?
(06:05):
You know? I mean, I know that that must have
been a growing process for you, Anita.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
It was a growing process, and I could we could
see the impact that we had on the family. My husband,
he didn't know really, you know, how to handle me,
what to do, what to say. And the children. John
is the youngest, so you know, they didn't even tell him.
They didn't even communicate to him what was going on.
You know, I just assumed that they did. You know,
he was always a quiet, kind of a lone or
(06:31):
kind of guy. I just assumed that he would he
knew and just was being, you know, just quiet about it.
But he never knew. They never had a conversation with him.
And that's why we expanded our program to real men.
We're pink in our children's festivals because breast cancer is
a whole family issue. We felt the need that, you know,
the children need to have a better understanding of what's
(06:53):
going on. You know, the families go through it's not
just breast cancer, but we go through all kinds of
difficult things, and you know, we need to let children
know that it's going to be okay. We need to
show the parents how to talk to their children about
these kinds of things. So that's why we have our
Children's Festival. We have our real men we're pink, so
we can teach them about caregiving and teach them how
to take care of themselves as well, because it is
(07:15):
a family affair.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah, I think that for men it must be particularly
challenging because men aren't really taught how to really deal
with these kinds of emotions and they want to be strong.
Maybe they think they have to be strong, but sometimes
to be vulnerable is the appropriate thing to do, to
be able to, you know, just cry. You know, I'm
(07:39):
sure a lot of men feel like they can't do that.
They've got to be strong for their family. But you know,
sometimes it's.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Okay, Yeah, it's okay, And you know they are scared
and don't know what to do, and they're not sure,
you know, what's life going to be like without you know,
their loved one, and you know, what should they be
doing what should they be saying. Sometimes they just need
to and be still, but they just don't know, or
just talking to other men that are going through similar situations.
They're not out there alone, you know. So it's very important.
(08:07):
Like I say, breast cancer, like all illnesses, is a family.
It's a family affair. You know, everybody is suffering.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Well, Anita, I just have to give you some major props.
You started out with an idea, with a vision, and
it just you started with a couple of churches and
now you're going to try to reach so many people.
It's just expanded and grown and it's just shows you
the power of an individual vision. You've made it come
true and it's just getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
It is it is. This was not the vision at all.
So but you know we're blessed. We can't complain at all.
We know we're reaching a lot of people through all
of the events. We have expanded from just being an
awareness event to awareness, intervention and prevention.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yes, and you've touched so many people. I'm sure you
have saved lives.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yes, we have, we really have. Just you know, as
an aside our mammograms, the women have gotten mammograms have
had to be called back for additional screenings and testings,
so we know that we're helping to save lives.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
If people like more information about Praise is Secure and
also the George Ethorn Development Center, how do they find
out more?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They can go on the web our website which is
www dot Praise Isthecure dot org, or you can give
us a call at two one five six three five
ten twenty five.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I want to thank you both so much. Anita Connor,
who's the founder of Praise Is the Cure and the
George Ethorn Development Center is the executive director of that
is John Connor. I want to thank you both for
joining us today.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Thank you, thank for having us.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Anita Marie Thornconnor, loving wife, devoted mother, cherished grandmother, trailblazing
business person and co founder of Praise Is the Cure
was born October fourteenth, nineteen fifty six and called home
August fourth, twenty Twe we'll have more insight after these
messages
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