Sydoney Blackwood Founder

My journey to Ṣiyyôn has been forged in fire. For years, I battled a rare medical condition that went undiagnosed in Jamaica, enduring unimaginable, constant pain. I went through seven surgeries, countless pills and injections, and even resorted to chewing marijuana just to get moments of relief. Still, I had to stay alert — raising my twin boys alone, now 4 years old. The tumour caused me the inability to walk, and to work at times but I had to.

I was in sin but I trusted God all the way. I remember once there was no food at all in the house, not even milk for my children. I cried to God reminding Him of His promise that I would never beg for bread. He told me to check a specific bank account — one that was usually overdrawn due to standing orders repaying money owed. To my shock, there was JMD $36,000 (about USD $230) with no trace of where it came from. I filled my car gas tank in faith, bought food for my boys, and to this day there is no record of that deposit.

Everything shifted when a pastor, following the Lord’s prompting, called me her daughter and arranged for me to travel to the USA for urgent treatment. I’ve been here since November 2024, away from my sons who are now with my mother in her small rural home along with a special-needs sibling.

​

On May 19, 2025, I had a high-risk surgery — a hard, aggressive tumor on my chest wall that had also spread into my abdomen and wrapped around my ribs was removed through an en bloc chest resection and mastectomy. Surgeons had to remove seven ribs, my breast, and surrounding tissues and muscles. My chest wall was rebuilt using my own tissue, muscle, and skin — reinforced with titanium. Two days later, both my lungs collapsed, requiring another emergency procedure.

 

The last few years have also been marked by loss after loss. 

• 2019 November - Aunt— my best friend, died

• 2020 January - I suffered a stroke 

• 2020 November - Grandmother died (raised me)

• 2023 May - Father was brutally beheaded and massacred by his stepson

• 2024 October -  Grandfather (who raised me)

• 2025 April - Grandmother (my dad’s mom) passed

In between those years I've lost friends and other family member.

​

The valleys of my life have been many, including:

• Childhood molestation

• Domestic abuse that left me hospitalized

• Financial collapse — losing home, job, and vehicles

• Depression, suicidal thoughts, and a brain tumor discovered after my 2020 stroke

• Being unable to walk for two years after being hit by a motorcycle as a child
   

And yet — God kept me. He healed me, restored me, and gave me peace the world cannot give.

In a strange land with no family nearby, God provided the right people at the right time. During this season, I built an altar, surrendered fully, and allowed Him to purge and refine me. I let go of everything and everyone, choosing Him above all else. My intimacy with God deepened, and He began to speak, taking me deep into His Word and into history.

​

It was in this place of surrender that God gave me the vision for Ṣiyyôn: not a building, but a people. A place for healing, wholeness, and transformation for the overlooked and broken. A family where every voice matters, every gift is activated, and brothers and sisters in Christ strengthen each other.

From this vision came the “I Am A Testimony” 5K Prayer Walk 2025 — a prophetic act of unity and intercession in Kingston, Jamaica. We will declare God’s healing power, pray for the broken and lost, and stand together as one Body of Christ.

I no longer live for worldly ambitions. My degrees and business have meaning only if God uses them for His Kingdom. I am God’s child, His servant, and I will go wherever He sends me. My heart’s burden is to help others experience deep intimacy with Him, because once you truly encounter God, your life will never be the same.

I am here today because God kept me — alive only by His grace — so I wouldn’t let go. And I believe He’s calling His remnant to arise, to unite, and to restore what has been broken.