The Durham News - Nov. 28, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 07:43PM Calendar girl
Artist and breast-cancer survivor Beth Palmer spreads message of hope
By VIRGINIA BRIDGES, Correspondent
Beth Palmer wears many hats. She is an artist, former teacher, a wife and mother.
Now she is "Mrs. January."
A seven-year breast cancer survivor, Palmer is Mrs. January for the 2011 "Fighting Faces" calendar. It features cancer survivors from across the United States.
Lori Wycoff, of Columbus, Ohio, developed the calendar project, now in its third year, after giving volunteer massages to cancer patients a few years ago.
"They are different from you and me. They are very upbeat. They are very thankful," Wycoff said. "They taught me a lot of lessons, and I just wanted to find a way to give back to the people that inspire me."
Wycoff created the calendar to help raise money for patients struggling to make ends meet, while facing the disease that will affect half of all men and one-third of all women in the country, according to the American Cancer Society.
Palmer, mother of Nathan 25, and Brent, 29, was nominated by Dana Powers, owner of In the Pink Wigs in Durham.
"I saw her as a beautiful person both inside and out and I felt that her experience, her cancer journey, kind of enriched her beauty and her depth and her genuineness," Powers said. "I thought that all that would make her a great candidate for the calendar."
Palmer, the only North Carolina resident in the calendar, selected Raleigh-based Pretty in Pink Foundation to receive the proceeds from calendar sales and donations in the state. The nonprofit organization provides financial help with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy for uninsured and underinsured North Carolinians diagnosed with breast cancer.
Palmer, a former public shcool art teacher, was recovering from sinus surgery in 2003, when something caught her eye in the mirror.
"Something just looked funny," she said about the lump in her left breast. "It felt like about the size of my index finger."
She called her doctor and stepped into a life-changing journey that reconnected her to artistic talent and her emotional and physical strength. Along the way, she developed an intense passion for helping those who need an experienced hand to hold or a pep talk as they fight the second-leading cause of death in the United States.
"People hae told me they felt something and they didn't take any action because they were afraid of it costing too much," Palmer said.
"Just reach out," she said. "There are good people, and say, "I don't know how' and keep asking it until sombody will help you."
Her passion, she said, grew out of the compassion others showed her.
They included a neurologist who held her hand when she received bad news, and a personal trainer who encouraged her to start painting again and pushed her to get in shape, despite the cancer.
One day, Palmer, tired from her fight against her breast cancer, sat in her living room chair with her eyes closed.
"This image just floated in my head," she said. Ribbons everywhere, surrounded an angel floating from a box holding a giant gem.
"I got out my paints," she said.
And then she couldn't stop, she said. "I was just inspired."
Palmer kept cancer at bay, but she left her teaching job two years ago after lung damage from radiation treatment strained her energy and ability to lift and put away supplies, she said.
Now, she has turned her attention to painting and comforting others.
During the process, she said, she discovered her message to the world: "Love each other, do the right thing."
She has spread that message via her art work, which is featured in the new Drew Barrymore film "Everybody Loves Whales."
Bernadette Pickles, director of community outreach and volunteer services for the Pretty in Pink Foundation, sees Palmer's message in the woman as much as her work. Instead of letting cancer consume her, Palmer has used it help her spread hope, she said.
"You can see everything she does, it is with a purpose," Pickles said
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Reader Comments (2)
freelance writer
I was an extra in the filming of Everybody Loves Whales and was lucky enough to purchase two of Beth's pieces from a sale of movie props and art, here in Alaska. I am very honored to have on my wall, art from someone so inspiring!