Artist Peggy Chun to make rare public appearance

Advertiser Staff

Artist Peggy Chun, painting while still battling ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, will make a rare public appearance with co-author Shelly Mecum, to autograph their book, "The Watercolor Cat," from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday at Barnes & Noble Ala Moana.
Chun is the celebrated watercolorist known for her whimsical art. Over the years, she also has explored other media: collage, photography, pastels, oils, acrylics.

Though not paralyzed except for her eye movement, Chun communicates and digitally paints with a computer system called ERICA from Eye Response Technologies, enabling her to continue her creative expression. "After all," she said in a prepared statement, "you don't paint with your hands, you paint with your heart."

"The Watercolor Cat" is a children's book about Chun's life and art told through the eyes of her beloved cat and is hailed as a triumph of the human spirit.


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Working to Strike Out ALS

By: April Lamb, Backpack Journalist
Date created: 10/4/2007 5:32:34 PM
Last updated: 10/4/2007 6:35:44 PM



Joy Eastridge and Brenda Hrivnak are now friends, but they barely knew each other when their mutual friend became ill.Advertisement



"We were traveling back from a nursing conference in St. Louis, and she said I'm having some trouble swallowing. When she said that, because I'm a nurse too, I knew what it was," Eastridge said. "Then we were just hopeful that it would not be what it was, but eventually the diagnosis came."

Betty Walsh was diagnosed with ALS in February of 2003. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, has also been known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It causes progressive degeneration of voluntary motor neurons.

"We all wanted to do something, and we couldn't figure out exactly what we could do for Betty. So we got together on May 7, 2003, and had our first meeting and talked about what we could do as a group of friends to support someone with ALS," Eastridge said. "Because of that meeting, we heard of other people who had ALS as well, and we started to have meetings, and the people with ALS were coming to the meetings."

While the friends were working to form an organization to help ALS patients in the Tri-Cities, they were also taking turns caring for Betty, who was slipping away quickly.

"So every week we went to help take care of her, and every week we went, you could see some ability that she had lost during that week. Our routine in the morning was to get Betty up and out of bed and showered and then dressed. We got her up, and we stood her up at the walker like we usually did, and she couldn't pick up her feet anymore," Hrivnak said. "That was probably the most difficult day for me, even more difficult than the day she died."

Betty Walsh was able to attend the first fundraiser for ALS patients in the Tri-Cities. Money was raised through an event called Strike Out ALS. Known at that time as the Tri-Cities ALS Support Group, the small organization sold apple pies and hot dogs at a baseball game.

"It was a big success. It really was, and that launched our fundraising efforts. Then things just grew from there, and they branched out. Unfortunately, Betty passed away a year after that. We've grown from just a grass roots organization of just a few friends banding together, to where we've joined with the ALS association in Nashville and Memphis and now we're a state-wide organization."

One of the patients served by the ALS Association's patient services coordinator in East Tennessee is Gatlinburg artist Rita Manson.

Rita and her husband were preparing to spend their retirement traveling.

"Of course now we don't travel at all", says Gary. Rita's symptoms began with balance problems and several falls. The artist once spent her days practicing the sumi-e style of painting. Now she can no longer speak or swallow, and her husband spends his days caring for his wife.

"This is like a death sentence. Like most caregivers we cross our fingers and hope for the cure," Gary said.

Since Rita can't speak, she now uses her hands to communicate. She uses sign language for simple requests and writes out her thoughts.

"Her brain is ok, that's the thing with ALS patients," Gary said. "Unless there is something else wrong, their brain is fine."

The ALS association is now able to help patients and caregivers in East Tennessee through a patient services coordinator. Jane Leuthke gives advice on care and ideas for equipment that can help make life more comfortable for patients.

Brenda and Joy are now preparing for the annual East Tennessee walk to raise money and awareness about ALS in Kingsport, TN, and they say they can feel Betty's spirit in everything they do.

"I think she would be greatly pleased to know where this has gone from that little group of original people, and it gives me so much encouragement to think that as individuals one person we can really make a difference," Eastridge said. "It's a huge disease, but there's hope. I think if each of us does a small part, then we can make a difference, and eventually we can cure ALS."

The East Tennessee Walk to D'feet ALS will be held at Warriors Path State Park in Kingsport, TN on October 13th.