Page 15 - ISI_146_FebruaryMarch

FEBRUARY // MARCH 2019 • IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT
Chemo Creations
BY LOIS RANDALL
The Chemo Creations exhibit started while
I was in the midst of Chemo therapy to fight
against breast cancer. I was not able to read
because I couldn’t concentrate.
I couldn’t exercise during this time as I
has little energy. I sat in my chair, and the
Lois Randall lives in the Flathead area of Montana. Her fiber art
exhibit, Chemo Creations, is displayed at the Ceres Bakery on
Main Street in Kalispell, Mont. PHOTO COURTESY LOIS RANDALL.
only thing I noticed I was really drawn to was
a basket of multi-textured and colored yarn
that had been sitting there for quite awhile.
In my chemo-induced stupor, I started
knitting with no idea of what I was going to
make. I let my imagination run and create.
I stopped trying to let my mind control the
outcome of what I was doing.
I did this for days as the fog rolled in and
out from the sea of my mind. At one point I
looked down and realized, I had grabbed a
totally different yarn color and texture and
had knit that into my creation.
TaDa! A new sensation had begun.
This happened quite a few times without
me giving it any thought. I just stuck my hand
into the basket and grabbed whatever yarn
came into my fingers.
I was very fortunate as a lot of people cared
about me. One day one of my visitors came by
Mail $15 to 1985 McMannamy Draw
I nternal
M edicine 208.263.6876
202 S Euclid St
Ste 202
A ssociates Sandpoint
and noticed what I was doing. She was not
a knitter herself, but was smitten with the
textures and colors and inconsistencies.
That felt encouraging. I needed that.
With the little bit of brain power I had, I
went and got into my stash of yarn. I decided
to make one piece with all similar colors for
my granddaughter.
I still had no control. I was right in the
middle of my treatments. I could work a little
while then nod off and pick it up later, going
in a totally different direction.
It turned out so fresh and so fun, that
piece. I decided to pick a different color pat-
tern and make another one. My neighbor came
by and said she wanted to buy one and told
me the colors she wanted.
Having always been an artist, it felt won-
derful to be creating in the midst of all this
craziness and all these challenges.
I kept getting my treatments, getting fog-
gier, and kept on clicking my needles, all the
while dropping stitches and making mistakes.
But they kept turning out.
For the piece I created for my grand- me feel better and make others around me
daughter, I decided to add embellishments
and charms that matched her personality,
our relationship, and the great times we
have had together. This seemed to really
complete the piece. I felt satisfied that the
piece was now completed.
When my neighbor saw how those embel-
lishments impacted the entire piece, she
brought me some of her own treasures and
asked me to braid them into the creation I am
making for her.
The results were so similar. It completed
the piece.
Even in my brain fog, I knew I was
onto something.
As a normally a very positive person,
I looked for ways to stay ahead of all the
minutia that hangs around when you are in
the midst of a long journey through which
you have little control. I made the decision
to stay upbeat.
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INSPIRATION PAGE 15
Kalispell, Mont., artist Lois Randall started working on her Chemo
Creations while in the midst of chemo therapy to fight against
breast cancer. This creative outlet has enabled her to keep
smiling through her treatments. PHOTO COURTESY LOIS RANDALL.
I wasn’t going to let this stinking cancer
win any battles and most certainly not the
war. Pink wigs can only go so far in making
smile. My motto was and still is:
The devil whispered, “you cannot with-
stand the storm.”
I whispered back, “I AM THE STORM!”
When something like this happens to you,
you have to make a choice. You can either
sit it out, or dance. You have to decide if you
are going to just be, or if you are going to
fight. For me giving up or giving in wasn’t
an option.
That is why I am so glad the Keeper of the
Stars showed me that even a chemo-fizzed
mind is an asset, a positive in all the negativity
in the air.
I am please to share my story and the
main reason I kept smiling through all the
treatments. ISI
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