Doing what we can

One of the proverbs Judy kept on her blog

This week a member of our beading community left us far too early. Judy Glende was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in December, her second battle with cancer, and one that she battled bravely. Whilst it has been wonderful to see how so many beaders, designers, lampworkers, jewellery addicts, whatever you want to call us, have pulled together to offer our support and prayers to Judy's family, we know no words that we can offer can bring them the comfort and peace that they need.

A member of our local community here lost her battle with cancer a month ago too. I haven't mentioned it here before as I was only just getting to know her, and it's not my story to tell. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of January, shortly after stopping breast feeding her youngest son, by which time it had spread all over, including to her spinal cord. Aggressive chemo was started to give her as much time as possible, but an infection on top of that led to kidney failure only a few weeks after her diagnosis. Her friends, church and our school community are giving as much support as they possibly can. Her two eldest boys are either side of Ben in age, and her baby is 5 days younger than Jamie - another reason why I haven't written about it here. It's just too close to home, makes me realise again how close a call I had last year.

Anyway, I've been thinking about the Bead Soup pieces I've made with the wonderful lampwork Michi sent me and of doing some fundraising with them, and Tania of Moobie Grace Designs has organised a design challenge in honour of Judy that will also be a fundraiser for cancer charities. I'll post details of what I'm going to do with my Bead Soup pieces next week, but you can find details of the "Flap Your Wings" challenge (named after Judy's etsy shop) on Tania's blog here.