Legacy Award 2019

Legacy Award 2019

The EPIC Foundation Teresa Tapp Legacy Award
2019 Recipient- Jill L Smith
Born November 24th, 1960
Passed September 27th, 2019

Empowering People with Invisible Chronic illness-The EPIC Foundation honors the legacy of Jill L Smith, a fellow Cushie and Addie warrior and friend and mentor to chronic illness warriors everywhere! This award is presented on behalf of Dr. N. Karen Thames (Founder and Executive Director), our Executive Board of Directors, Staff, Volunteers, and members. We offer our sincerest and deepest condolences to the family, friends, loved ones of Jill Smith as well as the entire community at large who cherished her! On September 27th, 2019, a beautiful angel gained her wings.

The following sentiments were written by the loved ones of Jill Smith: “A life well-lived…Jill Lee Smith enjoyed spending time with her 3 children and daughter-in-law. She looked forward to being a Grandma someday. In 2006, she became incapacitated due to a very rare, life-threatening disease called Cushing’s Syndrome. Jill had both of her adrenal glands removed leaving her with another very rare, life-threatening disease called Primary Addison’s disease making her steroid dependent. Jill decided that she would not let the life-threatening disease control her life in which she became an advocate to increase awareness to all. Jill will be missed by her family, her relatives, and many friends who were blessed to know her throughout her 58 years!” Our mission: The EPIC Foundation is a 501C3 non-profit organization that provides support, advocacy, and tools to those affected by chronic illnesses. The foundation staff provides various resources to support patients and their caregivers.

The EPIC Foundation uniquely embraces the mind, body, and spirit, by focusing on key human issues such as trauma and loss. These are the vital issues that are commonly ignored while treating chronic illnesses. Our mission statement: The Empowering People with Invisible Chronic Illness (EPIC) Foundation is a 501C3 nonprofit organization that seeks to empower those living with chronic illnesses. Our mission is to provide emotional support, advocacy, and tools to empower chronically ill patients and caregivers to thrive!

This award is named after its first-ever recipient, Teresa Tapp, creator of the T-Tapp Workout and a friend to all! Teresa Tapp’s life embodied our mission! The EPIC logo is a flame held by two hands. Teresa held the same flame and passion to empower chronic illness warriors! The EPIC Foundation made a commitment to honor subsequent recipients who also embodied our mission in the same way. This second legacy award is presented to the family of Jill L Smith in honor of her legacy. This award is given because of the unique qualities representative of someone who leaves an imprint in the world.

These qualities include vision, compassion, and impact.

Vision: Jill’s vision of giving in spite of her circumstances is why we honor her legacy! Jill used visualization every day to SEE herself being in a better place! She also encouraged others to visualize themselves as receiving their diagnosis, receiving treatment, and having a better quality of life. It was because of her vision that Jill was able to overcome such adversity and still GIVE to others! She had the vision of having a community come together to increase awareness and to impact the mindsets of doctors, patients, and layman alike! The vision was such a powerful tool in Jill’s life!

Compassion: Jill had such great compassion for everyone she met and knew. It was important to her to reach as many people as she could in the chronic illness community because she knew what it felt like to be unheard of. She reached out to the typically marginalized people and made them feel cared for! After Jill’s passing, hundreds of people vocalized just how much compassion Jill had for them.

Impact: Jill was a highly esteemed advocate of both the Cushing’s and Adrenal Insufficiency communities and loved by all! She will be terribly missed! She survived the unimaginable and lived to serve others. Jill served as a co-administrator in multiple online support groups including for the Adrenal Alternatives Foundation and the ADSG (Adrenal Diseases Support Group). Increasing awareness was extremely important to her! Jill also served as a volunteer with The EPIC Foundation in the department that honored the legacies of persons we lost in our community. She was also a highly esteemed author of educational literature on The EPIC Foundation’s website: https://epictogether.org/addisons-diseaseadrenal-insufficiency/"Awareness is Key!" ~Jill L. Smith Those were her words! That was her mantra. She stood by that and therefore had a tremendous impact on the masses! Jill touched so many lives and didn’t even realize it!

Vision. Compassion. Impact. All words that describe the recipients of our Legacy Award. “Jill, your legacy lives on forever! No graphic can ever describe how special you are. But telling the world about our amazing fellow warrior brings us comfort. You fought for you AND you fought for everyone else! You gave and out of ashes came beauty. Another angel gone but never forgotten! We remember you today and forever!”

2019 EPIC Foundation Teresa Tapp Legacy Award- Jill Smith

May your legacy live on forever!
~Dr. Karen and The EPIC Foundation