Celebrating Cancer Survival With Susan

On Friday the 7th, Susan invited me to be her guest at an annual luncheon held by Cedar-Sinai for cancer survivors. 

It was very touching, humbling, and invoked a lot of gratitude. 

 There's Susan laughing at me being a photo journalist. 

An "In Memory Of..." Billboard. It was almost full by the time they took it down. 

Another booth showed examples of how big tumors could be. Susan pointed out the one size that was closest to hers. 

 What we were slated for. The special guest speaker Susan Schnell has survived 5 different cancers since 1966. 

Our fancy salad and bread. We ate at the Sofitel hotel. Food was delicious, especially the sorbet we had for dessert! 

Susan, taking a pic of her lucky little talisman, Pogo. He's been on every appointment with her since he was gifted to her by one of her art students.  

Here is Susan Schnell. Quite a remarkable woman. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. We gave her a standing ovation by the end of her speech. 

This is one of Susan's doctors, Dr. William Audeh. He shared stories of other patients and their survival. A very warm, sweet man. Susan says he listens to her, takes his time, and really cares about what she's going through. From what I've learned that isn't always the case for cancer patients. 

We sat a table with survivors, their companions, and it was wonderful to see them support each other in their same but different journeys. The closing speech was very moving as the last doctor told us what Cedars is up to, and their plans for cancer research. It's quite amazing, really. 

It was especially poignant as I sat there with Susan. It's even more so as I hung out with my friend Jen last night, who I haven't seen in awhile. She recently lost her mother to breast cancer. 

The numbers of those affected by cancer is astounding. All I can say to you, if you or a loved one is diagnosed, is to go out and gather as much information and research as possible. Make sure you ask questions. Make sure you find support, it's a scary time, but truly, you are not alone. 

New pictures of Pogo, before and after lunch. Hee. These are from Susan's phone. 

Delicious sorbet!

Susan Update!

Today Susan goes into her LAST CHEMO TREATMENT. Hooray!!!!

Having just hung out with her last night, I can easily say that she is ecstatic about her last round of chemo.

Susan being greeted by Scruffles & Punky,
the pups I get to live with. 

Susan's been doing great. Throughout the ups and downs of Life being heightened by the outrageous fortune of fighting cancer, she's hanging tough, for sure. She's been working on a children's book, taking commissions on art, and has two gigs through Fiverr.com. (Links are at the bottom). For those of you who don't know, Fiverr is a great resource where people hawk their wares and services for $5. I think everything you can think of is on that site.

Susan has become friends with renaissance man, Adam Emperor Southard, and got to be part of his series, Id, Ego, and SuperEgo.  In the L.A. Theater scene, Adam is a writer, musician, photographer.... I think he pretty much does everything. It makes nothing but sense that they found each other and hit it off. Susan was previously part of Adam's series, Body & Soul.

As Susan's a force to be reckoned with, she's also working on illustrating a children's novel called Zwoosh!. Below is the first layer of the cover. As I understand it, these things have several layers, (like a cake!), and here it is, right off the easel. I was lucky enough to see a draft, and it looks just delightful. As a big fan of picture books, (hello, I used to run StoryTime at Borders), I'm thinking this will be a hit.

And some of you are probably wondering how she's doing financially, as we had that emergency fundraiser a little while ago. Her Disability has finally kicked in! They lost her claim once, and I'm pretty sure, if she hadn't stayed vigilant and kept calling, it would've been lost forever, and I would've been trying to figure out other ways to help her raise cash monies. She luckily got a hold of someone who helped expedite the whole process, and it has kicked in. Finally. The relief has been palpable. She now can afford her rent and bills, but that whole food thing and you know, life, still needs a budget. So if you want to commission some art from her, or need some copyediting on your latest book, why not contact her? (Nudge, nudge).

 If you'd like to help out, you can kick in whatever you'd like, or even just simply share the links to friends.

If you need help with copyediting, go to here on Fiverr.com.

If you'd like to gift someone some handcrafted kanji necklace or Halloween Goodness, go here.

If you'd like to commission a painting from Susan, follow this link, and contact her at susan@lifeonitsside.com.

If you want to send Susan a note of encouragement and love, or even send her a buck, you can send it via PayPal at her email, susan@lifeonitsside.com

No matter what, chances are you know someone who has been affected by cancer. Give 'em a hug, ask if they need anything, and if they have an organization that's helped them. Share your stories.

Thank You For Helping Susan!!

I am pleased to announce that through the efforts of friends, and friends of friends, we raised just about $1200 for Susan this weekend. We paid for her August rent, and she can now get some groceries and pay some other bills.

SO THANK YOU!



While Susan's waiting for her disability to kick in, she's still got her many hats on, in the air, everywhere.

Find her art (oil and watercolor) here: http://art.lifeonitsside.com

Find her Fiverr copywriting/editing gig here: http://fiverr.com/side_life 

UPDATE: Find her handcrafted Kanji Jewelry here on Fiverr: http://fiverr.com/side_life/create-a-handcrafted-kanji-necklace-out-of-polymer-clay

You can still send her donations, if you'd like, via PayPal at susan@lifeonitsside.com. I know some people have mailed in contributions, and this effort is just truly touching. You're all a bunch of angels.

If you want to know what lead to this mass effort of fundraising, look at my last post: Help A Susan Out, Yo. 

Here's Susan on her first day of chemo, and where she become a BAMF in my eyes: Susan's First Day of Chemo.

Here's my post on Susan as The Bravest Storyteller I Know.

Help a Susan Out, Yo.

Susan's had a rough time of it, no doubt.

We've raised money for her through Give Forward, which was wonderful. She's been working as much as possible as a Fine Art Teacher to kids, and she's started up her own copywriting business through Fiverr.com. I've shared her vlogs with you and now I'm gonna share a video of my own:



I think the fastest/easiest way to support Susan, is to send a donation in to her via PayPal at her email address: susan@lifeonitsside.com. $1, $5, doesn't matter, because every little bit will help. 

If you want to support her through her art, look here for her watercolors.  Look here for her oil paintings. 

Soon enough, she'll be opening up her own little shop online where you can buy her handcrafted jewelry. Oooh! I'll link to that as soon as I can.

In a world of crowdfunding for video games, webseries, adventures, and more, I think it's possible that we can raise at least $850 for Susan. That's a pittance compared to most campaigns!

No matter what, please share this post. Spread the word. I think we can help Susan.

THANK YOU!

Susan Lee - The Bravest Storyteller I Know

My last post showed a wee little video of Susan knitting during her first chemo treatment.

Since then, her hair fell out, and she embraced it. Like REALLY embraced it. Here's her video of cutting off all her hair:



Like most of us creative people, Susan is a storyteller. It's a very important place in society. I think we need storytellers. We have to share our experiences with each other, because it helps us connect - connect to each other as a species, to the heavenly beings above and beyond, to every creature that inhabits this earth.

The art of telling a story is primal. It cannot be helped, and it oozes out of our hearts and souls in many aspects. Susan's one of those people where it just flows in abundance. She writes, paints, draws, directs, produce, knits, you can't stop the art flowing out of her if you wanted to.

I'm extremely inspired by her as she has been sharing her story with us. That video is just plain fun, and don't you find it extremely touching as well?

She's had her second round of treatment. Boy, has this round changed some things. There is a ton of shit going on in her life, and it definitely is scaring the crap out of her. But look what she did:

She embraced her change, and connected with a couple of lovely artistic souls, (Adam Southard and Melissa Collins), to share this story of Body and Soul. 

This next video came yesterday. She is in a huge place of transition, and you'll see why if you watch the video. It's fucking scary, and I want to share this with you all, because it needs to be shared. Susan's Storytelling Soul is coming out in spades, and this is where we connect, People: when we're scared, we're lonely, and we're fighting uphill battles.



I just want to honor and thank Susan for being so brave. 'Cuz Lord knows how I would handle this. If you feel the need to connect to Susan, to send her some love, you can find her on Twitter at: @LifeOnItsSide.

Susan's not backing down. BAMF

Susan's First Day of Chemo

My good friend Susan Lee is battling Breast Cancer. We've helped raise close to $5000 for her, so she keep a roof over her head, we've been taking her to her appointments and hanging out with her, and yesterday, Susan went through her first day of chemo.

While we were hanging out and watching various medical personnel walk through and play with the contraptions, Susan kept her cool. I was extremely impressed and wanted to share that with you all.



If you want to keep track of Susan's journey, she has started her own vlog series. Find her on YouTube. You can also find out about her many talents by visiting: www.lifeonitsside.com

And yes, one day, I will remember to hold the camera the right way.