Our Team

Jason is a volunteer Career Coach, leveraging his background in Human Resources and formal education, which includes a Masters degree in HR and a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification.

Tammy is a retired CPA who lives near Charlotte, North Carolina.  She has 5 grandchildren and was introduced to the world of 22q when her middle grandson was diagnosed at the age of two.  She found out about the 22q Family Foundation while searching online to learn more about her grandson’s condition. Tammy started working with the foundation as a volunteer Career Coach in 2024.  Through her years working as a CPA, she was involved with recruiting and staff training, so serving as a Career Coach seemed like a perfect fit.

Being retired has allowed Tammy to spend more time with her grandchildren. She volunteers as a Certified Administrative Official for USA swimming where she gets to watch her grandkids swim up close!  The four oldest all swim competitively with the youngest to be joining soon.

In addition to her 2 volunteer positions Tammy enjoys spending time with family, travel, cooking, flower gardening, tennis, and pickle ball.

Sarah Sherry is a Georgetown University certified coach with over 17 years of corporate experience in talent and leadership development. Sarah has led large-scale programs in leadership development, early-career mobility, and workforce engagement for a Fortune 200 organization, and has personally coached over 250 professionals, from early-career to executives, on work and life goals.

As a mom to two children, one of whom has 22q, Sarah brings both professional insight and personal empathy to her volunteer work with the 22q Family Foundation. She is deeply committed to helping young adults with 22q (and their families) navigate the transition from school into employment, college, or trade pathways with confidence and clarity.

Sarah lives in Maryland with her family, where she serves as a Family Ambassador for the Kennedy Krieger Institute, is a Governor-appointed parent member of Maryland’s State Interagency Coordinating Council for Infants and Toddlers, and the former Chair of the Howard County School Health Council. Her work is motivated by all the times she's been told by 'the professionals' to "just be a mom." She also likes to have a lot of fun, mostly outside in nature: hiking, building tree houses, or laying on a beach naming cloud animals.

Sarah is a graduate of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies (University of Richmond) and has a master's in human resource development (Villanova University). She also holds a master's in personalized nutrition and epigenetics (University of Connecticut), integrating a holistic view of well-being into her coaching practice (and as mom of a 22qtie). Through her work, she helps families and individuals build sustainable energy, alignment, and purpose so they can thrive, not just adapt, to this one precious life

Donna leads the 22q Family Foundation Education Station.  She is the author of the definitive book about learning issues associated with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (Educating Children with Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome (Also Known as 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and DiGeorge Syndrome).  Donna is an educator with over 35 years of classroom experience.  She has worked as both an advisor to gifted and talented students, as well as an advocate for children with learning challenges.  She has served as a cooperating teacher with the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 15 years as an educational consultant specializing in meeting the needs of children with VCFS/22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome.

Shannon is delighted and honored to join the 22Q Family Foundation in the Education Station. She has spent her career helping students with unique needs in the public schools as a Nationally Certified School Psychologist. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Florida in 2008 and an Education Specialist degree in School Psychology from Auburn University in 2011. Shannon lives in sunny St. Petersburg, FL with her husband and two boys, one of whom was diagnosed with 22Q in 2019. They enjoy going to the beach and riding bikes around town as a family. Outside of family and work, Shannon loves to read, travel, listen to podcasts, and is a big fan of watching comedy. She's looking forward to meeting and helping families in our community. 

Courtney Hayes was introduced to the 22q world when her son, Jude, was born. The diagnosis has been a roller coaster for her, with many difficult days and many hopeful days spent leaning in to the 22q community. It was through this online community that the idea for the 22q Mom’s Retreat was born. Courtney realized how much hope and strength she drew when she was able to relate to other mothers with unique, yet similar, experiences to her own. Her friendship with Meagan Chisholm and how much it helped her on some of the more difficult days helped her dream of a place where moms could hug, laugh, cry, share some wine and share some hope. Courtney mentioned this idea to Meagan and the rest is history! She enjoys competing in triathlons, running, swimming, camping, and being outdoors. She is also currently working towards becoming a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant with the goal of opening up a private practice.  Courtney resides in Gilbert, Arizona with her husband Josh and her three sons, Jude, Layne, and Morrison. While she is still navigating the world of 22q, she is constantly growing, learning and figuring out how to be the best possible mother and advocate for Jude.

Rebecca is the proud mom of the strongest, sweetest and silliest little boy who was diagnosed with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome at birth. Rebecca attended the 2018 Moms' Retreat not knowing what to expect but ended up finding renewed hope, strength and a supportive community of moms who just understand what it is like to be a 22q mom. Ever since that retreat she has been an advocate for the The 22q Family Foundation and is honored to be a part of the Moms Retreat Committee. Rebecca is also the creator and host of the 22q podcast which was inspired after attending the 2021 Mom Restreat. Rebecca lives in Rhode Island with her husband and son. She is the program coordinator for a youth leadership and traffic safety prevention program, is a motivational speaker and a graphic designer. She enjoys baking, reading, walks with her dogs and her happy place is the beach.

Lindsay and her husband Adam were shocked at the news given to them during her 20 week ultrasound that their youngest son Lincoln, had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, among a few other anomalies.   This was the focus of their family until Lincoln's cardiologist finally convinced Lindsay to have genetic tests run due to Lincoln's CHD complexity.  Lincoln was given his 22q diagnosis at 14 months old, which is when Lindsay started to spend all of her free time researching and connecting to other families.  Lindsay met Megan Chisolm, and soon after several other families after attending the first 22q Moms Retreat. Lindsay spent several years in healthcare before Lincoln was born and is now the Co-Owner of Therapy Redefined in Carmel, Indiana.  Lindsay is passionate about educating other newly diagnosed 22q families about what private therapy should look like and helpful tips and tricks to help all of our 22qts reach their best potential.  Lindsay is married to Adam, who is a registered nurse at the Indianapolis VA hospital. They have 3 children Cadence (16), Cael (13), and Lincoln (7) who is their 22qt.  Lincoln is a social butterfly, he is thriving, and living his best life.

After years of experiencing “ a lot of little things” with no real answer as to why, Eileen’s son Nate was finally diagnosed with 22 11.2 Deletion Syndrome at the age of 3 1/2.  At that time, Eileen felt fortunate to find resources, support, and community from the 22q Family Foundation, and through the years has taken advantage of all the services that the foundation has to offer. After attending the 22q Moms Retreats in 2018 and 2021,  Eileen experienced the profound power of connection with other moms in this community, and truly knew the value in being able to share, empathize with and learn from other moms.   Wanting to help others have the same experience, Eileen knew it was time to put her organizational strengths to work and join the retreat planning committee.  

is a retired nurse practitioner and nurse practitioner instructor. She is the author of a book that tells the story of raising her son Mikey with 22q, entitled Yearning for Normal. The book addresses many of the questions, anxieties, sorrows, and uncertainties encountered in being a 22q mom. Mikey died unexpectedly last summer at age 38 after a freak accident. Even though he’s gone, she remains a 22q mom with experience (old). She maintains that having a 22q child is an unexpected life curriculum for learning love, kindness, and acceptance of life’s losses and imperfections. Susan learned how to thrive during the years of raising Mikey through prayer, meditation, and journaling. It is her desire to pass on those skills to other 22q moms. She lives in Peninsula Ohio and delights in three grandchildren so far.

Wendy Abate-22q Moms Retreat Committee Member and her husband, Alex reside in a suburb of Chicago and are parents to three children, Alex, Anthony and Nicholas. Alex is age 14 with 22q and Anthony and Nicholas are 8-year-old twins.  Alex was diagnosed with 22q at 6 months of age and has been faced with many challenges in his young life like so many other children with 22q.  Alex is a sweet, resilient young man who enjoys history, reading, swimming, and gaming, and lives for vacations to the beach. Wendy was introduced to the 22q community when Alex was 3 years old at a Dempster Family Foundation (n/k/a The 22q Family) function in Chicago where she met the Garcias, Donna Cutler-Landsman as well as several other 22q families. Wendy has been involved with and an advocate for The 22q Family foundation ever since, spreading awareness in her community whenever she can. Wendy was honored to become a member of the Moms Retreat Committee and attend her first retreat in 2024. Being able to connect with other moms in this community has been an invaluable experience. Wendy is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, works as a family law paralegal, and has been volunteering with her children’s schools through the PTA for the past 10 years.  She enjoys spending time with her family including watching her boys play sports, cooking, baking, traveling and doing anything creative.