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By Suzie Siegel
Last year, the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa hosted the first LMS quilt that was made. This year, the keeper of the LMS quilts, Bobbie Keller of Concord Township, Pa., was kind enough to send the No. 2 quilt for the month of June. It was displayed in the Arts in Medicine studio, along with fact sheets about the quilt and LMS. These fact sheets also were placed in the sarcoma clinic to direct patients to the studio.
Patients, including Cherie Ashburn of Hudson and Florence Cohan-Austin of St. Petersburg, admired the quilt and expressed a desire to make their squares for the next quilt.
The artists in the Arts in Medicine program talked to patients about how they can express their feelings through art, such as the quilt. The quilt also raises awareness of LMS; memorializes those who have died; illustrates that others have survived and thrived; and shows the human side of the disease.
Lloyd Goldstein, who spent 21 years with the Florida Orchestra, played the double bass during a ceremony for the quilt. He reminded everyone that he and other artists in residence at Moffitt are happy to visit patients’ bedsides. Lloyd has performed for many sarcoma patients, and he urged people to contact the Arts in Medicine program if they would like a musician, poet, artist, etc., to come to their hospital room.
The ceremony attracted doctors and staff from Moffitt’s sarcoma program.
Quilt No. 2 has squares representing people from South Africa to New Zealand, including Nancy Hoag, who made the purple ribbon with the green rose in the center; Lynda Hendrix, who suggested LMSers find a way to raise awareness; and Piera Murphy, whose husband, Dave, is now a board member of the Sarcoma Alliance.
Because Cherie has GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumor), I pointed out the quilt squares for Ardeth Files and Marina Symcox, who were originally diagnosed with GI LMS. I talked about the bond between LMS and GIST patients.
For more information on the quilt, go to http://www.nlmsf.org/quilt.htm
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