MJ

Whaddaya do when the best oncologists tell you that you won’t live a year?

There’s no script, but you take something with you that one of the oncologists – the one you elected to work with, by no coincidence – shared: Cancer has only one upside. “It can give you the gift of relishing every moment you have left, and every person you care about.” And so it has. A life long nonsmoker, retired art teacher MaryJane was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer in April of 2006. Two years and five months later, in August of 2008, she will be showing her latest media, felted art, at her favorite gallery in East Lansing, Michigan - Mackerel Sky. With the help of friends and her copywriter husband, she has gone to her studio regularly, except when most ill from the chemo or cancer. Six weeks ago she received her most recent diagnosis of 6 months to live, and then she and her husband left for a week in Napa and Sonoma with friends, and she has plans to attend dogs shows with her Salukis in several states and provinces over the summer. Currently, “MJ” feels the best she has in 18 months, and is on a roll. Her greatest pleasure is working in her studio, playing with wool, connected to something primitive and traditional in a new way. She says she could not have kept going without the love of what she does, the love of friends, the love of her life, and her love for life.