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Honoring Sumayyah Simone: Our Gentle Warrior
The Health Freedom community is grieving the loss of Sumayyah Simone, a cherished friend, a “mama bear” and a quiet voice that grew strong and resonant when the need arose.
Sumayyah Simone died the same way that she advocated: fighting, mostly quietly, behind the scenes, but with a fierce determination to remain aligned with her convictions.
In her own battle with cancer, Sumayyah held true to her belief in living and dying on her own terms, relying on a small circle she could count on to protect her medical privacy and respect her choices.
She grew us all and continues to keep us on a growth curve.
In one of their last conversations, Sumayyah passed a torch and extracted a promise from her close friend and fellow advocate, Melissa Alfieri-Collins of the New Jersey Healthcare Alliance. She told Melissa:
“I don’t understand how people fighting for the same thing can be so divided. Don’t let them break you. Promise me. Division is how you fail.”
Sumayyah understood the threat of cultural autoimmunity and spent much of her time inviting people into conversations that could deepen understanding and heal divides.
This wasn’t a smoothing over. Sumayyah aspired to untangle the knots that constrained our progress. But those who mistook her warm smile and her kindness for weakness quickly learned that she was a force to be reckoned with.
Her efforts to respect and protect medical choice were relentless, as she demonstrated during the pandemic when her mother became ill. It was likely Sumayyah’s advocacy — her skills in navigating difficult medical decisions and nuanced conversations — that enabled her mother to get off a ventilator and into an arduous rehabilitation process at home with her family.
Within the movement, Sumayyah made a practice of engaging in difficult conversations. She was there at the Battle of Trenton — but she also showed up in living rooms and legislative offices, to protect religious exemptions, parental rights and the individual sovereignty of everyone.
She spoke her truth unapologetically when she saw the need for broader vision. When the topic of race became a source of division, Sumayyah created My Black Health to create meaningful dialogue about the very real impacts of a deeply rooted medical apartheid.
But she could also listen and work alongside people she didn’t agree with to advance a cause that was close to her heart. Choice, and respect for different choices, mattered to her.
With her strong Jewish faith, her penchant for deep inquiry and her passion, Sumayyah had the makings of a rabbi. Her impassioned speeches, on the rare occasions she made them, were moving and powerful.
But she chose instead to use the platform she was offered to make space for other perspectives. As host of CHD.TV’s aptly named “What’s Your View?,” Sumayyah sought common ground and viable solutions with other parents and health freedom advocates.
On and off camera, she was probing and genuine in her efforts to make peace and progress.
We’ve lost a friend and a warrior, but we needn’t lose the lesson. As she once wrote in a heartfelt goodbye letter to her dear friend and sister warrior, Sheila Lewis Ealy, “Your life is your message and I heard it and I understand. Thank you for being my friend.”
Today, we honor Sumayyah’s life and her message:
“Don’t let them break you. Promise me.”
We won’t, Sumayyah. We hear you. We love you. We’ll miss you. Nevertheless, we persist.
If you pray, please say a prayer for her husband, Ralph, and her children, Crystal and Raphael.
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