Sharon Jacques has fully recovered from two mini-strokes and lives with the risk of a stroke, heart attack and other impacts she said her body’s overly fast clotting can cause. Now the Wiscasset woman wants to spread the word about Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome (APS), the condition she found out she had while pregnant with Haley Jacques, now 7.

Haley will get tested at 13 to see if she has it, her mother said. That, and wanting to spread awareness about APS, have inspired Sharon Jacques to take on the Mrs. Wiscasset International 2017 title, making her part of a March 2017 pageant that will showcase the contestants’ platforms, or causes.

Jacques has picked the APS Foundation of America. According to its website at www.apsfa.org, the foundation is a nonprofit offering support groups and help in education, research and other areas. 

“They really helped me out when I was diagnosed,” Jacques, 45, said.

Husband of 16 years Corey Jacques said he’s proud of his wife for wanting to help spread the word about APS and the foundation. “I feel great about it,” he said about her joining the pageant.

Sharon Jacques said it will be a different experience for her, one she expects will help her grow personally and set an example for young Haley, about the personal growth that can come from helping a cause. “That’s what I’d love to be able to teach her, that if you’re uncomfortable, but it could make a difference, then go into it, and you’re going to come out of it growing, and being more confident.”

Jacques also has twin sons, Ryan Talmadge and Alex Talmadge, 25; and stepchildren Trinity Jacques, 18, and Ian Jacques, 22. She grew up in Abington, Massachusetts, a Boston-Cape Cod suburb she described as a very small town, and spent summers in Old Orchard Beach.

Jacques said contestants in Mrs. Maine International will discuss their platforms in the pageant’s interview portion that makes up half of the total score. Evening gown and fitness wear each make up 25 percent, she said. The event is a separate one from the Mrs. Maine pageant fellow Wiscasset resident Heather Demeny took part in earlier this year, Jacques said.

Jacques attended a sendoff party in Bath last month for Mrs. Maine International 2016; that’s where she learned about the opportunity the pageant gives contestants to spread awareness about a cause they’re passionate about, she said.

“I was like, ‘Oh, really? Maybe this is what I’m supposed to do, to make a difference.’”

Jacques’ Facebook page on her pageant journey is titled Sharon Jacques-Mrs Wiscasset Interational 2017.