Jean Sumner on a Mission in World Wellness
When you look upon Jean Sumner, you see a busy and passionate individual; well-known and well liked among her peers and business acquaintances. Happy Villager is happy to have had the opportunity to sit beside this amazing woman and get an in depth view of what exactly sparked the passion that gleams from her vibrant smile.
In 2009 Jean went to her physician and found out that her white blood cell count was high. Not thinking too much about it, she takes a second visit to the physician to check her cell count again, this time she takes herself to the oncologist. This trip was different though, she received the devastating news that, what she is dealing with is Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Two years earlier she was told her white blood cell count was high, but nothing transpired and she went about her days as usual. So, this new revelation sent her reeling. She was told, there is nothing they can do. From there on out they were going to treat her condition as a "Watch and Wait" and treat the symptoms as they come with Chemo Therapy. Jean was not in any way comforted or satisfied with the road she feared she was about to undertake. So, she started to research on her own. The first thing she read was a book called "Breast Cancer Survivor's Guide". Inspired by the success of the Author whom turned vegan and changed the way she took care of her eating and drinking; Jean in turn followed suit and abandoned her old ways and drastically changed her diet. Upon yet another trip to her physician, she finds out that her white cell count was still on the rise.
A short time later, Jean heard about Jim Miller from Leesburg, Fl who had a diagnosis of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Jim underwent Chemotherapy and it helped for a mere three months and things went from bad to worse with him, leading to the suggestion of a bone marrow transplant. Jim then went to a place in Orlando called Hippocrates Health Institute, that teaches how to live a lifestyle that could help beat cancer. After dramatic weight loss and an overhaul of his own diet to completely raw foods; two years to the day that he became a raw foodist, he had become cancer free.
As Jean went along her personal journey she became a full time raw foodist, exercised her spiritual side, and physically exercised as well. She fully started taking care of her body, mind and spirit. She worked fervently to figure out why she got cancer in the first place. This began her quest into World Wellness. Jean knew that her current banking career wasn't the path she was destined to follow. It did not take long before she began not only changing her life but helping others to do the same; with four published books under her belt, and running the club "Eating in the Raw" which meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 1pm at the Seabreeze Recreation Center, I would say she is well on her way.
She began to do everything she was told that would help detoxify her body. Upon her research she found a man in Australia whom had beat the same Cancer she had been diagnosed with. She proceeded to follow the steps he took when he was going through the same struggles as she was.
Jean and her husband of 29 years moved to The Villages when she was 50; she isn't in this walk to wellness alone. She lives in Briar Meadow and has lived in The Villages, FL for 13 years now. She says she loves the security and safety The Villages provides.
It has been years and her numbers are still outside of what physicians would call the "normal" range, however her overall health has stabilized. As Co-Founder of World Wellness Education she is pursuing her passion to educate the world with an unparalled fervency. In Jeans own words "You should never be told there isn't a way, there is ALWAYS a way."
Thanks to Jean Sumner for a glimpse into her history and background and why SHE calls The Villages home.
