Heather Morton ~ Front and Present ~ One Year Later.

Thankfully it doesn't happen often that a friend has a health crisis, but when I heard that Heather Morton was diagnosed with Fibromatosis I felt the need to participate with others to do something more.  The result was a February 2012 fundraiser that brought the local photo community together for a night at Toronto's Gladstone hotel.  There were Artist talks by Brett Gundlock, Naomi Harris and Daniel Ehrenworth and a silent auction of 40 photographic prints from local and international photographers.  Printing services were donated by Pikto and we spread the word months before the event through Heather's well read blog HMAb.   In the end we had raised $9500.00 to help Heather and her family (which includes her beautiful children Theo, Tilly and Max) minimize costs related to her treatment.

Recently I checked in with Heather to see how she was doing and shoot her portrait. As you can see, she is as lovely as ever and here's what she had to say:

1.  How do you feel these days?

 When we had the fundraiser, I was still looking at another year or so of treatment and that was so disheartening. An MRI in the spring confirmed that if I was lucky I would be done by Christmas 2012. But then my next MRI at the end of the Summer showed enough progress that my Oncologist abruptly said I could stop treatment. I was elated but also a little skeptical. The next two months coming off chemo was hard because the pain that had initially plagued me came right back! I had still experienced pain in the tumour site during chemo but it was much less than prior to starting treatment. So... when the pain came back with such force I was really concerned and so was my Oncologist. At a meeting in the Fall he kind of panicked and sent me for an emergency MRI- he thought treatment had stopped too soon! The MRI showed no change in the tumour and so he was reassured that the decision to stop was the right one. Thankfully, since that little set back the pain has slowly and steadily declined- I feel pretty good now- besides nighttime pain (I've got drugs for that) and limited range of movement with my left arm, the chemo seems to have worked. The tumour is still there and will probably always cause me discomfort but I feel like I can live with it. Living with the chemo was difficult and I'm still dealing with the repercussions of that so I think about it all the time- how glad I am to not feel sick and exhausted and not need to panic if I get a cold. Its such a relief to be done with it.

2.  How did it feel to have the photo community support you during your time of need? What has been the most lasting result of the fundraiser? 

As I said over and over again leading up to the fundraiser, it was amazing to feel the support of so many people- many of whom I didn't even know!  I really mean it when I say that it got me through some tough emotional times. I think we are all so lucky to be part of a community that is willing to step up and celebrate each other, to share with each other and hopefully inspire each other too. I really desperately miss my blog but the fundraiser was a fantastic farewell to HMAb. I'm really thankful for the tremendous job you guys did (Lisa Kannakko, Kristin Sjaarda, Jamie Rosenthal) - it was really humbling. 

In terms of the legacy of the fundraiser, I'm not sure. I guess that's a question for the people who attended. I know there are many non-photo community friends of mine who now own some beautiful pieces of art! And I think there were some significant connections made that night too. I'm a sucker for these kinds of community nurturing events and I hope we can keep doing them.  Before Christmas I attended one of Johan Hallberg-Campbell and Brett Gundlock's evenings and was really impressed with the quality of work shown and the commentary/critique offered. 

3. What surprised you most about the fundraiser? 

 I was surprised by  the amount of people who got involved from different segments of our community; from my students at Sheridan who shlepped in from Oakville to help out, the photo community: photojournalists, hard-core commercial shooters, junior shooters, fine art curators, assistants and then lots of agency folks too!  The Gladstone was packed and I think we had to turn away people!

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As I was saying good-bye to Heather, we both realized how much of the time we spent talking about our kids and life in general.  Illness doesn't discriminate and we acknowledged that life continues to move forward regardless of the plans we make.   We have no choice but to keep moving ahead and working hard for the things we want to be doing regardless of what life throws at us.  Our role as professionals and mom's is really to handle whatever comes at us and keep on fighting the good fight.I ended up sending Heather the questions she so eloquently & honestly answered, so she had time to contemplate and and reply...front & present...in her own words.  

To be in touch with Heather find her through her blog.