Name: Lesley Hensell Demond
Community: Mansfield resident
This community hero loves her some H-E-B. Lesley grew up in Arlington, graduated from Arlington High School and has lived in Mansfield with her husband and two boys since 2000.
“I didn’t realize what a life-changer it would be for Mansfield to have its own H-E-B,” said Lesley. “I’m hopelessly in love with them.”
That’s for a good reason. Lesley is a busy mom whose younger son is graduating from high school next spring. Her older son just graduated college. And she’s one of the nation’s most prolific and well-known experts in the world of ecommerce and Amazon. She’s been helping Amazon sellers for more than 10 years and is affectionally known as The Suspension Lady.
“It’s a wacky world being an Amazon seller, because you can lose your entire business in the snap of a finger,” she said. “Amazon has all sorts of quirky rules that get products delisted. Sellers get their accounts suspended. Their livelihoods can die, right then and there.”
Lesley takes Amazon’s actions personally. She takes on the behemoth, which is known to suspend sellers without cause. Often, Amazon shows no mercy, and often takes weeks or months to figure out their mistake.
“Sellers are human. They make mistakes, and they get completely shut down for the smallest of errors, or, Amazon has simply erred. My job is to prove they were wrong. I get sellers reinstated and back online—back to earning a living,” said Lesley. She does all of this in her Mansfield home office.
Amazon work is just her day job. In between all of that, she’s on a mission to save lives. She’s helping parents and children journey through the horror, grief and hopelessness of a child’s cancer diagnosis. It’s a personal fight.
In 2016, Lesley’s youngest son was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“Jackson was only 8 years old when he first got his diagnosis,” said Lesley. “Our world was turned upside-down. We were exhausted, and we often felt so alone.”
That’s when she learned about A Wish With Wings. Based in Fort Worth, the organization has granted more than 1,900 wishes to Texas children fighting life-threatening medical conditions.
A Wish With Wings granted Jackson a Disney World wish. But beyond that, the Wish Ladies who run the not-for-profit made Lesley, her husband and boys part of their family.
“It wasn’t that we received a wish. It was that we were given hope by these people who loved our boys so very much,” Lesley said. “They also invited us to a brunch with Santa and brightened our holidays. Nearly a decade later, they still keep up with our boys and their lives.”
The year after receiving a wish, the Hensell Demond family decided it was time to give back.
“We were the luckiest family on the oncology floor at Cook Children’s,” Lesley said. “Jackson was literally cured of his cancer in less than a year. So many other families struggle for years and years. A Wish with Wings gives families and children one of the greatest gifts — hope. When you see a child’s face light up when he or she learns that his or her one true wish is about to come true, it’s magical. Life-changing. A Wish With Wings provides the spark to remind families, and all of us, that there is still hope that tomorrow will be better.”
The year after Jackson’s cancer battle, he completed a coast-to-coast walk across England with his mom. Their 200-mile adventure raised more than $20,000 for A Wish With Wings. That was just the beginning. In the coming years, the Demond family sponsored the organization’s annual gala multiple times.
Jackson remains cancer-free after nine years. He has since been diagnosed with a rare immune deficiency, but new treatment has given him his health back after years of struggle. Today, he’s a storm-chaser who will be working toward a meteorology degree next year at the University of South Alabama.
“With both boys off living their own lives, my husband Henry and I will have more time to give back,” Lesley said. “He’s taken on the challenge of teaching special education. It will be my job to find a way to help even more families struggling with cancer. I look forward to my next challenges!”
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We will profile local community heroes and helpers in Mansfield, Arlington, Cedar Hill, Kennedale, Midlothian, Rendon, Venus and Waxahachie. Stay tuned.
We will profile local community heroes and helpers in Mansfield, Arlington, Cedar Hill, Kennedale, Midlothian, Rendon, Venus and Waxahachie. Stay tuned.
We will profile local community heroes and helpers in Mansfield, Arlington, Cedar Hill, Kennedale, Midlothian, Rendon, Venus and Waxahachie. Stay tuned.
We will profile local community heroes and helpers in Mansfield, Arlington, Cedar Hill, Kennedale, Midlothian, Rendon, Venus and Waxahachie. Stay tuned.
