It's the evening of January 22nd. My daughter calls, in between what sounds like sniffling or muted sobs she says to me, "Well, have a safe trip - and - stay away from the Light."
March 31, 2009
It's the evening of January 22nd. My daughter calls, in between what sounds like sniffling or muted sobs she says to me, "Well, have a safe trip - and - stay away from the Light."She was referring to my impending visit to the Other World, otherwise known as cancer surgery. A full year ago I was contacted regarding illustrating children's books for the American Cancer Society. None of my immediate relatives have had the Big C, until then cancer hadn't touched my life. An amazing chain of events brought me face to face with it. On a beautiful sunny Sunday morning in April of '08 my daughter Kerrin and I were stuck in traffic, a mile from our home. Out of the blue I felt the crash. Two trucks hit me from the rear, a florist delivery van and a Ford Ranger pick up. Kerrin was okay, both of my hands were damaged and I had internal bleeding. Disheartened, I felt my Guardian Angel had left me high and dry. Both of my hands were severely bruised - and useless. For months. I am ambidextrous, but without the use of my hands my career as an illustrator was put on hold. Where was that Guardian Angel? Sleeping at the wheel?Then came the battery of tests; the awflest of the awful was the EMG (Electromyogram), and the MRI. The EMG consisted of having a needle probe stabbed repeatedly into both arms and hands - while it was electrically hooked up to a monitor to measure the electrical impulses of my muscles during rest and contraction. OUCH!!! Very painful, very shocking!Hey, GA where are you?The MRI was a piece of cake. Showed some disk damage --- and a nodule on my thyroid! .....So the long and short of this saga is that nodule ended up malignant. Had I not had the unpleasant car accident, well, ummm, I never would have had a clue that cancer was growing inside of me. Until, well, let's not go there with those thoughts. Thank you Guardian Angel! You saved my life!-----While the cancer was growing, without me ever knowing of its presence, I was working on Let My Colors Out written by Courtney Filigenzi and published by the American Cancer Society. Being released in May the book can be pre-ordered here.
As you can see from its description, the story is about a boy whose mom has cancer. How Ironic it was to find out, while I was illustrating this book, that I too was a mom who had cancer!My four children experienced the exact same emotions as the protagonist. That made this book very special and dear to me. It is above and beyond one of my favorite books.Each page is a different color and emotion; here are a couple of examples:
The book ends with a page of hope and a surprise pop up balloon. Hope for me came in the surgical hands of Jack Monchik down at Rhode Island Hospital. Dr. Monchik performed a complete thyroidectomy. I then became a cancer survivor. Funny about that, too, becoming a cancer survivor. Again, before my biopsy results had come in I was already contracted to illustrate a cancer survivor book, Nana, What's Cancer?, written by cancer survivor Beverlye Hyman Fead and her granddaughter Tessa Mae Hamermesh. Amazingly, a similar coincidence also had happened with My Sister, Alicia May when I was hired to illustrate a book about a girl whose younger sister has Down syndrome. Jean, my editor, had not known at the time of contacting me that I grew up with a younger sister with Down syndrome. My Sister, Alicia May will also be released in May.
Days before my surgery Alicia and her sisters, Rachel and Taryn, sent me a 'get well' email complete with photos of themselves. These filled my heart with love and made my hospital stay a lot brighter.
As spring time approaches, my life is filled with hope and promise.The April issue of Highlights High Five Magazine has these illustrations in it:
And spring is filled with new Beginnings also available May 1 and written by Lori Ann Watson.
So much has happened to you since that car crash back in April 2008! Amazingly, throughout it all you continued to work and your artwork shines, and brings hope to others through these books.
May your Guardian Angel continue to be at your side.
Posted by: June | April 12, 2009 at 05:00 PM