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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Champions Page 8
Two girls, one prayer and 24 works of art BY SARAH MURRELL VOICE Staff In the late evening hours of the summer of 2011 Laura Lane would enter the empty, quiet craft room at Ronald McDonald House in Toronto and let her hands dance on blank canvas. “I just wanted to do something for me,” says the Pelham mom of four. “I knew it would be good to be creative.” Lane was living at Ronald McDonald House for three months during the summer of 2011 while her daughter, 13-year-old Celeste was undergoing treatment for a rare form of brain tumour called Pineoblastoma. In February of 2011 Celeste saw a doctor because she was having headaches and double vision. The same day she had a CAT scan, by dinner that evening she was having an MRI and that night underwent emergency surgery. Celeste had a second surgery a week later at SickKids in Toronto and a biopsy was done. The tumour in Pineoblastoma is located near the pineal gland which is located in the centre of the head and brain - almost impossible to operate on. Therefore, Celeste underwent 30 high dose radiation treatments followed by three to four cycles of high dose chemotherapy and stem cell rescue to boost
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her immune system. At the same time, Hayley Filipinni, also 12 at the time of her diagnosis, was undergoing the same treatment and she and Celeste became very close, skyping, emailing and talking on the phone. They finished their treatment and were released from hospital just five days apart. While the two girls were facing a difficult time, Laura and Hayley’s mom, Laurie, knew their daughters would, ultimately, be okay. Painting in the craft room at night was therapeutic, says Lane, because she does paint with her hands. Bringing photos of her work to the hospital everyday also gave her and Celeste something exciting to talk about and something positive to focus on. “It was something more than just dealing with the sickness,” says Lane, who doesn’t remember the last time she painted since packing away paints and canvass out of reach of her children’s little fingers. The first paintings were done in blues, a very healing colour, says Laura, then her husband asked her to paint something using four colours he chose. “It worked really well,” says Lane of painting with the specific colours chosen by her husband, so she asked Celeste for four colours and painted with her choices. Then, she asked Hayley to choose four colours.
WAVES (left), named by Hayley Filipinni, and Flowers for Celeste, are two of the works being shown and auctioned by Pelham resident Laura Lane to support Ronald McDonald House, SickKids Hospital and Hayley’s family. Hayley and Lane’s daughter Celeste underwent treatment for a rare form of brain tumour this past summer. Sarah Murrell/Voice Photo The resulting works, Laura says, are representative of the faith, and hope, she and Laurie shared during their daughters’ treatments. “It’s a way of telling the girls’ stories,” says Laura. “It’s important to let people know there is hope.” And there is hope. Celeste is doing very well now and her prognosis is good, says Laura, noting
her tumour has been reduced by more than 90 per cent and follow ups should see it disappear altogether. To give the paintings even more of an impact in the girls’ stories, Laura has made arrangements with several galleries to show the works between now and next summer, when they will be auctioned off. This month the paintings are hanging in the Festival
Room at the Fonthill Branch of the Pelham Public Library following a showing in December at the QB Gallery in Thorold. Laura explains she was walking in Toronto one day while living at Ronald McDonald House and headed for the Art Gallery of Ontario. She found her way inside a small, free gallery that showcases contemporary artists with
a tie to Toronto. Laura asked the curator about her own works and the idea to not only show them, but auction them off was born. Laura hopes to have the paintings show throughout the Golden Horseshoe this winter and spring, and is still talking with several galleries to make that happen, before they go to Toronto in the summer for auction. Proceeds from the auction will go to Ronald McDonald House and SickKids Hospital as well as to Hayley’s family. Laura explains Hayley is from New Jersey and even though her family has health insurance, they are facing more than $50,000 in bills just to cover their deductible. Laura says she can’t imagine dealing with the stress of her child’s illness, and treatment away from home while worrying about money and how to pay the hospital bills on top of it. When she heard Hayley’s family was fundraising to help cover the costs of her treatment, Laura says she decided to include the family in her fundraising through her paintings. The exhibit, titled Two Girls, One Prayer, is on display at the library for the month of January. While the paintings are not for sale until they are auctioned off, Laura says there are packages of greeting cards made from prints of her work, for sale now.