Spirit of the Heart Award- Dedicated to All of You!

Yesterday Brian, the twins, and I went to Sibley Hospital in Washington D.C. to hear Dr. Neil Spector speak. He was incredible! His story is one of perseverance and hope and I was so thankful to be able to attend his lecture. He not only talked about his own battle with Lyme, which caused him to have a heart transplant, but he also discussed how his experience and research in oncology is closely related to Lyme and the treatment of the borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. It truly was fascinating! I was so happy to shake his hand and thank him for all his hard work in bringing this issue to light and his help in pushing current research forward for Lyme Disease. I was gifted his book, Gone In a Heartbeat: A Physician's Search for True Healing, by the amazing director of Harford Lyme Advocates, Janet Jensen, and started reading it immediately after the lecture yesterday. It is captivating and I highly recommend it to anyone with a chronic illness or who takes care of someone with a chronic illness. He truly is an inspiration with his will to live and his compassion as a healer.

One of the best moments of the day for me was after the presentation when I turned to see my own Lyme doctor in attendance! How wonderful is it that the man taking care of me is taking his personal time to seek further viewpoints and theories behind this tricky disease? It made my heart soar to know he is still seeking education and understanding from his colleagues even though he himself has written a book about beating Lyme Disease. Awesome.

In addition, NatCapLyme Association honored me with their Spirit of the Heart Award to recognize my work in raising awareness of and funds for Lyme Disease and other tick borne illnesses in Harford County and beyond. It is my honor and pleasure to give back by supporting research, education, and legislation for this horrible disease. I want to dedicate the Spirit of the Heart Award to everyone who has supported me in my efforts with my Ticked Off events over the last three years! I could not have done this without the undying help from family, friends, fellow artists, and patrons! We are getting the word out and making a difference! This award is for all of you! Thank you! Here are a few pictures from the event:

Dr. Neil Spector- a unique voice for the Lyme community

Monte Skall of NatCapLyme giving me the Spirit of the Heart Award

Spirit of the Heart Award from NatCapLyme

Susan Green, Esq.

Susan Green is the amazing lawyer who has helped and continues to help push through legislation to protect Lyme patients in Maryland and Virginia. She had the honor of introducing Dr. Neil Spector prior to his presentation.

One of the many slides Dr. Neil Spector had in his presentation explaining the similarities between cancer and Lyme Disease.

Dr. Neil Spector's Book

Again, thank you all for your continuing support in raising awareness and research funds for Lyme Disease.

xo

Ticked Off- Lyme Disease Awareness Event Thank Yous!

A few of the sour faces from the "Take a Bite Out of Lyme" challenge!

I am so humbled and overwhelmed by all the love and support over the past two Fridays. It has been a whirlwind of activity getting this spring show together, being the featured artist, and pull off this Lyme Disease Awareness Event. So many people stopped in, talked with our representatives from Harford Lyme Advocates, took the "Take a Bite Out of Lyme" challenge, donated money, bought art, and participated in our basket give away! It was wonderful to meet new people, hear their stories, and tell them mine. I saw old friends, new friends, strangers, and family! But most important of all is we are getting the word out about this terrible disease!

Special thank yous are due to Janet Jensen and the rest of the crew from Harford Lyme Advocates who supplied all the educational literature and expertise to answer questions about Lyme Disease.

Thank you to Arts By the Bay Gallery and Pat Fair (art director for the gallery) for letting us use the space to hold this event. Also, a very special thank you to the artists who came out to support the event including those who worked the desk.

A heartfelt thank you to Kimie Ranken, the amazing jeweler who took my vision for a Ticked Off necklace and made it a reality even better than what I dreamed. Despite a serious illness and being hospitalized, she, with the help of her wonderful husband, Bill, delivered the necklaces on time for the event even though I told them not to worry about it. Truly, they are amazing, loyal, and selfless people. As she moves forward with treatment for her medical issue, I offer prayers of healing. More about the necklaces later in the week...I still have some in stock to sell so I will be setting that up shortly!

A huge thank you to KWM Cares and everyone at Kelly Wealth Management who made a very generous flat donation to NatCapLyme Association.  Your gift was such a surprise and appreciated! It will be put to good use.

Most of all, thank you so much to my amazing family and friends. I could not have survived these past months with my sanity intact without you all. To my husband, who tirelessly worked on the framing of 43 pieces and has been by my side every step of the way cheering me on; my kids, who helped get supplies together and ready for the event, worked the room at the event, and told me I made them proud; and to my friends who despite having ten million other things better to do, still came out to support me and this event. I am truly blessed to have each of you in my life, I love you all,  and I owe you one ;)

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to the patrons who bought my art! It is my dream to have people connect with my art in a way that has deep meaning for them. It was such a pleasure to meet and talk with the buyers and hear why they chose the pieces they did. I will be posting the sold items up on Facebook throughout the week. You are what makes me keep working, trying new things, and producing art.

While the Ticked Off event is over, Lyme Disease Awareness Month is not. I am still collecting donations throughout the month of May and donating a portion of the profit from the sale of my art in the month of May. So, if you were not able to make the event but would like to help people like me and so many others who suffer daily from this disease, please visit Arts By the Bay Gallery in Havre de Grace where there are donation boxes until May 31. If you can't make it out to the gallery, please consider donating online using the following instructions.

1.  Go to NatCapLyme.org's donation page.
2.  Click on Fundraising Event in the tab section.
3.  In the Select Event for Fundraising dropdown menu choose the bottom one...Arts By the Bay Gallery Ticked Off Lyme Disease Awareness Event.
4.  Fill out the rest of the form and submit!

Thanks so much for any help you could give. This really is a great organization. I attend the support meetings of my local chapter and they are champions of getting the word out in Harford County and beyond.

xo

Ticked Off! May 5th Lyme Disease Awareness Event at Arts By the Bay Gallery

After having about a week off from blogging and spending some quality time with my mother, I am slowly getting back into the swing of things! Over the past week the advertising for the upcoming Ticked Off- Lyme Disease Awareness Event at Arts By the Bay Gallery in Havre de Grace has come out! I will be displaying three walls of art, matted prints, and the published articles I have written.  A portion of the proceeds from my art in the month of May will benefit our local chapter of NatCapLyme! In addition, I will be collecting straight donations (you don't have to buy art), both online and in person at the gallery. When the online portion is set up, I will post a link to the donation site. We so desperately need to get out accurate information to the public about this debilitating and dangerous disease! I will be sharing my story and discussing how art has helped me through some of my most difficult times.

I am thrilled to share these fliers with you and personally invite each and every one of you to come out May 5th from 6-9PM! It is going to be lots of fun! It is also First Friday celebration in Havre de Grace the same evening, so after you stop in to the gallery you can take part in all of the other festivities and activities throughout the main street area.

You can check the Upcoming Events tab for the calendar that lists all of events coming up this spring!

Everyone on the east coast...be safe during this blizzard!

xo

It's Heartening In a Strange Way

Parkton Bridge Along the NCR Trail

Nobody knows anything. I deal with people in all walks of life, 

some of whom should have some idea of what they're doing. 

And they're all clueless. 

It's astonishing that any bridges stay up, 

or that planes don't constantly plummet from the sky. 

It's heartening, in a strange way. 

 ~Peter York

This is how I feel about Lyme disease...there are people who should have some idea of what they are doing, but they're all clueless. While I wouldn't say they are "all" clueless, it is pretty frightening how many misconceptions are out there, not just among the regular population, but among doctors as well. That's why it is so important that I use my voice and my experience to get word out to the citizens of my community that this disease is dangerous, rampant, and growing into a larger problem every single day.

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month and recently I had the honor of attending my local County Council meeting where they read a Proclamation declaring it as such in Harford County. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but this is a huge step in getting local government on board to not only admit there is a growing problem, but also help be part of the solution. If you'd like to see the proclamation read by the Council and received by the members of the local Lyme support group, Harford Lyme Advocates, a chapter of the National Capitol Lyme Disease Association (to whom I donated a portion of the proceeds from my solo art show in October), you can watch it here.  You can forward the video to time marker 8:48 to skip the opening business and see the Lyme portion. A loud thank you to our fearless leader, Janet Jensen, who leads our local chapter with her unrelenting, kind, energetic spirit.

Since my solo show in October, Janet has kept me informed of how the money raised has been used to advocate for Lyme awareness and Lyme patients.

What is going on at the local level:

4 Lyme education awareness tables at public health fairs
Supported work to pass the Maryland Lyme disease bill (2016)
Increased the number of support group meetings to monthly (meet 3rd Thurs each month, 6-, Upper Chesapeake Medical Ctr)
Provided Lyme education materials to local medical offices

What is happening at the national level via NatCapLyme HQ:

Completed work on the K-12 curriculum-  It's ready for public use.
Updated, revised education content in the  website, including updated formatting
Passed legislation in Maryland and Virginia requiring medical providers to give lab report of Lyme testing to patients and disclaimer that testing may not be reliable enough to rule out the disease.
Funded Lyme research conducted by JHU Dr. Zhang and Dr. Aucott.  

So much great work is being completed and pushed forward by an amazing group of people in this county and in the wider Maryland/DC/Virginia area. A hearty thank you to every single person who lives and breathes each day to bring Lyme awareness and fight to see the disease eradicated.

In celebration of Lyme Disease Awareness month, I will donate a portion of the profits from any art sales in the month of May to the National Capital Lyme Disease Association so that I may do my part in helping to keep this never-ending work pushing forward. Thank you in advance to anyone who sees fit to either donate or purchase art this month! You can make a donation here or you can contact me about purchasing art via my email form in the sidebar.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to explore my Living With Lyme link here on the blog, or to contact me via the email form in the sidebar. I will do what I can to help get you information!

xo