If you woke up one day and ended up in the hospital with a 50 percent chance of paralysis and a diagnosis of lymphoma on your spine by the end of the day, would you think your world was at an end? How would you handle such a situation?
Well, this scenario played out for me in March 2022, and somehow, seven months later, I was walking again, with a doctor telling me I was in the one percent of people who walk again after spinal surgery. Over those long, lonely, erratic months, I faced myself and came to terms with my mission.
Today, my call to action is to Get Ahead Of Life Before Life Gets Ahead Of You (view my documentary below), and my mission is to help marginalized women activate their light, in the middle of the chaos, by recognizing the causes and effects of intergenerational trauma. Three years later, I am the Co-Founder of Sista Creatives Rising & a Virtual Speaker/Presenter.
Share Your Thoughts!
In the midst of chaos, what’s your daily healing routine?
In 1986, I left Barbados, the land of my birth, to improve my life. Born into domestic violence, I lived under heavy trauma from the moment I took my first breath. Violence was endemic in my small world.
At age 63, I feel that life is finally leveling out for me. In 2015, I learned I had the potential to contract multiple myeloma. This is a rare condition in which some white blood cells in the bone marrow can turn cancerous. Since that time, I spent every waking moment fighting to hold off this diagnosis. However, in 2024, at age 61, I learned that my condition had advanced to smoldering myeloma, a stage just before full-blown myeloma. This was devastating after recovering from lymphoma and near paralysis in 2022. However, my medical team immediately placed me on a preventative regimen that is helping me to manage further deterioration, and it is working!
“Get Ahead of Life Before Life Gets Ahead of You!”
When I first learned about my myeloma diagnosis, it shook my world. I spent most of my life trying to leave my painful life behind. But there is nothing about a cancer diagnosis that can be left behind. You have to face it and fight it if you want to live--and I wanted to live. As a result, I started writing short motivational and inspirational pieces and creating colorful art. These pieces were posted on my old Instagram page, ClarityIsJustSoHip! (view my portfolio). The title of my Instagram communicated exactly how I felt.
My spiritual “Sun Angels” digital paintings for this project represent the number of days on a journey back to wholeness, clarity, love, and peace. Over the past years, as I struggled, I created a system called ClarityIsJustSoHip!, which stands for Clarity, Awareness, Presence, Acceptance, and Gratitude. Within this system, combined with a consistent Buddhist practice, I run negative emotions that occasionally rear their persistence through a wash, rinse, and repeat the cycle until those feelings become peaceful. I believe life is too short to waste dwelling on ‘what-could-have-been’ or ‘what-ifs.’
Every day since my diagnosis, I wake up feeling brand new and ready to tackle whatever is thrown my way. Good or bad, I go with the flow.
My “ClarityIsJustSoHip!” Project Saved my Life!
Birthed through the darkest moments of a health crisis, these works share the story of my journey back to whole health and balance via digitally manipulated iPhone photos, inspirational/motivational quotes, and self-improvement writings. Each piece is repeatedly manipulated and run through various apps until a satisfactory design emerges. My daughter edits the designs for print & more.
During that difficult time, making art and writing short pieces soothed my spirit. There were days when I felt I was being sucked into a black hole and life felt untenable. Listening to thought leaders like Louise Hay and Wayne Dyer encouraged and gave me hope during those dark days. Their talks helped me to stay positive and in the light and encouraged me to find the positive amidst a dire situation. Listening to them helped clear my mind, and I began to pen uplifting pieces.
As a Black-disabled elder, I want to provide wisdom to those struggling amidst the chaos through these blogs and videos. I hope to create space from the traumas of the ongoing crises in our country and to encourage fellow disabled folks to keep going despite the odds.
Trauma is not what happens to you but what happens inside you.” - Dr. Gabor Maté
About The Author:
In one week in March 2022, Claire lost her mobility by the hour. Enduring emergency surgery to remove a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma from her spine, she let go of all delusions and illusions about her health. Claire is now in the 1% of patients who walk again after such surgery. Now in remission and diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma, she’s using this blog series “to create space from the traumas of the ongoing crises in our country and to encourage disabled folks to keep going despite the odds.” A Buddhist and Frances Perkins Scholar, Claire’s journey to scholarship began during her childhood in Barbados when she sought relief from living under domestic violence.
Claire is working on her self-help project ClaritylsJustSoHip! and her memoir
Sista Survivor: An Immigrant’s Spiritual Journey to Legitimacy.
SUPPORT SISTA CREATIVES RISING
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Sista Creatives Rising (SCR) is a Black, invisibly disabled & COVID-Conscious mother-daughter-led initiative founded by Claire Jones and Amaranthia Sepia.
Your donation to our fiscal sponsor, BWINH (TAX-DEDUCTIBLE), will support:
Operational Costs: Including team stipends, technology, and event accessibility needs.
Microgrants: Direct financial support to marginalized artists.
Program Development: Expanding our virtual events and workshops.
You can also support the duo monthly on Ko-Fi & Paypal (NOT TAX-DEDUCTIBLE)
The “Sun Angels” pieces are breath-taking 🖤👏🏾 as is your testimony of beating the odds💫🙏🏾