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Calendar Girl Blog: Harry Helps Sue

Harry Helps Sue, originally uploaded by Sue Richards.

Tickets available at Helping Friends.

Calendar Girl Blog: Helping Friends

Artist with Parkinson's 'shooting for a miracle'

by Rob O'Flanagan
Guelph Mercury
April 8, 2008

Sue Richards believes in miracles.

The Guelph artist and arts community builder says she is witnessing them in the generosity and support she is receiving from friends and neighbours as she struggles with Parkinson's disease. One neighbour brings her fresh bread every week, others have shovelled the snow from her walkway.

She is open to one big miracle: A cure to her illness.

"I'm shooting for a miracle," said Richards, 50, who helped build Guelph's renowned Hillside Festival as artistic director in its formative years.

"I truly am. I mean, why not -- it happens and why not me? I get a loaf of bread delivered to my front door every week, sliced. That's a miracle. A bigger miracle, a reversal of my health issues. . . . Bring it on."

Richards has been the driving force behind the Breast of Canada calendar, but had to cancel the 2008 edition due to her illness. In recent times, she spearheaded the community arts project Art Jam, and represented a number of artists as a music agent. In 2000, she was honoured with the YMCA-YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for Arts and Culture.

The symptoms of her illness -- an immobilized left hand, tremors and rigidity -- are preventing her from working and earning a living. Parkinson's is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.

"I am always optimistic, and I am not changing that tune right now because that is the best tune I can play for myself at this moment," said Richards, who has done much to weave the fabric of Guelph's arts community. Now that community is coming together to do as much as it can to help her as she struggles to cope with Parkinson's.

"She is a local artist and the situation that most artists are in is that they don't have access to social benefits when they need them," said Guelph recording artist Jude Vadala, who will be among the performers at a benefit for Richards Saturday night at the Eden Mills Community Hall.

"The community has decided to help her out until she can get back to work or find a way of making a living again," Vadala said. "A lot of people are just so willing to support her.

"We are that kind of community. It's a village, and we don't want her to have to suffer."

Graphic designer Gareth Lind is a neighbour of Richards.

"Most of her life has been spent working in non-profit and cultural sectors," said Lind, who is helping to set up a longer term fundraising campaign for Richards.

"Like a lot of people who are self-employed, she has sort of fallen through the cracks in our health-care system."

Lind said there are a large number of self-employed people in Guelph and elsewhere who, as they age, will face similar situations.

"On the positive side, her friends and acquaintances who have really been touched by the work she has done, have really pulled together to make sure that she has the support that she needs to heal," Lind added.

Richards said her diagnosis was initially frightening.

"It was frighteningly scary because I felt that I was alone and facing this alone. Now that the community has kicked into gear to the degree that they have . . . I feel much safer, and much more embraced."

mercury web extra

To listen to artist Sue Richards talk candidly about living with Parkinson's disease, visit the multimedia section of our website, Guelphmercury.com.

Couldn't make the party? Want to help?

Check out HelpingFriends.ca

Calendar Girl Blog: An Update

Dear friends of Sue,

As Sue will describe below, she still does not have a firm diagnosis. Her illness may be Parkinson's; it may not. In any case, it will likely be a long slog until she reaches some form of equilibrium and wellness. She is nevertheless quite upbeat and determined.

Your extremely generous donations have helped her immensely. She still has no source of income aside from ads from blogs (see below). So, if you can help her out again, she would very much appreciate it. As you likely know, healing can be expensive -- and a lot of what is necessary does not fall into the narrow-minded confines of what is covered by OHIP.

Again, cheques payable to Sue Richards can be dropped off to Wild Rose, 23A Macdonell St., Downtown Guelph or sent to Sue Richards, 207 Liverpool Street, Guelph N1H 2L6.

You can also donate by credit card or Paypal. Go to www.paypal.ca . Click on "send money." On the "to" line, type in Sue's email, artjam@artjam.org . The rest is straightforward.

This looks like it will be a long journey. Sue can make it with our support.

Best,

Gareth Lind
Lind Design

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Please feel free to pass this on....

Greetings From The Red Squirrel and Mold-free House of Healing,

Thanks to the efforts of a fine battalion of warrior friends and a bit of time, my home is no longer occupied by vermin of any size, shape or description. The effort was heroic and took a full month to execute. I will admit that ‘selling the joint’ was a regular thought – especially when a full two weeks into my evacuation, I met a third red squirrel casually hanging out on my couch. It took several days for Trapper John to catch the scoundrel. A low point indeed.

During the nutty days of June, many of you generously made cash donations to my cash-strapped wellness fund. The artist’s way is rich in experience and good work but lame in the disability department. Your help bought my drugs, paid for dumpsters for my toxic basement guts and afforded Green Sweeps Cleaning to come and clean my house of squirrel droppings, fleas etc. I have also been able to cover my basic life expenses for the last 3 months. The weight of worry that this financial gesture lifted measured off the scale.

All the medical tests I’ve enjoyed this summer have determined that I am medically unremarkable – except for one. After demonstrating a series of physical motions not unlike the ones a cop would request if they thought you were drunk, the neurologist suggested Parkinson’s. Other opinions from my diverse health team agree that my symptomology has Parkinson’s like appearance but instead believe that my nervous system is being compromised by fungus, mercury and aluminum. My appointment with allergist Lori Bowman uncovered a zinc allergy/deficiency and high levels of both mercury and aluminum. I’ve researched all these causes in relation to my symptoms and, sure enough, they link. As you might expect, I’m keen to explore all avenues that might be causing my health problems before I assign myself a life long label like Parkinson’s.

Just as Guelph City Hall wasn’t built in a day, the detoxifying process takes time and attention. I completed the anti-fungal in August and have presently taken on the task of strip mining my body of heavy metals – another multi-month drug protocol that includes a mineral replacement protocol too.

The Guelph Mercury provided some media coverage in August. I was appreciative. But I hid for several days following publication. As kind as everyone is, for many reasons, I do find it hard to be public right now. You can read what the Merc wrote here and here.

To sum up, I believe I’m on the right path and my intention is to stay 100% focused on detoxing and getting well. My motor movements are still very dysfunctional but I sense small improvements. I type with one hand – slowly – and my walking style varies from weird to somewhat odd. But I am doing a couple hours of blogging on www.blogguelph.com each week and I’m presently looking for advertisers to help augment my income. If you know of anyone that wants to advertise on-line, let me know. Blog Guelph gets loads of traffic.

Should you want to round out your collection of Breast of Canada calendars, I’ve put the entire archive up on my website: Click on this link.

Thank you for your well wishes and prayers. Please continue.

Love from Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: Breast of Canada Has Served Us Well

August 20, 2007
GUELPH MERCURY Editorial

It's no surprise that news of Sue Richards' illness has provoked a bevy of emotions, from alarm and sadness to heartfelt prayers. When you've accomplished something as important and special as Richards has, such a response is well-deserved.

The Guelph woman's name is linked in the public's mind with the Breast of Canada calendar, which after weathering initial controversy and a rocky start its first year, has become a vital instrument in the promotion of women's breast health.

It's sad, then, that there won't be a 2008 edition, but not nearly as sad as the reason for that -- the Parkinson's-like neurological disorder that has made it impossible for the calendar's creator to produce a new edition. The strain alone of readying 3,000 calendars for shipment through the mail would be overwhelming.

There has never been any overt nudity in the pictures, but just the idea of a calendar featuring female breasts was at first provocative. Viewers of the 2003 British film "Calendar Girls," about a similar venture in England, will know all about that.

But the photos are just part of the project. Central to the calendar are instructions on the importance of breast self-examination and other breast health information, and the fact that photo submissions for the calendars have come from across Canada are a testament to this project's reach. With a share of the proceeds going to the Canadian Breast Cancer Network, the venture has been not only educational but philanthropic.

That's why we hope there is a way in the future for this very worthwhile initiative to continue.

We're very mindful that for Sue Richards, this has been very much an artful work of love that bears a very personal stamp for her. But it has touched so many people, it would be tragic to lose the calendar permanently, We believe the spirit of Richards' dream can be maintained if willing hands come forth to help keep the Breast of Canada calendars going. It's great to see that financial aid has already been offered.

We wish Sue Richards good health and hope that some way, we'll see a 2009 edition of her calendar and her in good health to enjoy it.

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If you are interested in purchasing back issues of Breast of Canada - circa 2002 - 2007 - please check out our shopping cart.

And, keep abreast of Guelph's cultural creative's at Blog Guelph - The Photo Blog With Attitude

Calendar Girl Blog: 2008 Edition Update

Dear calendar fans and readers - it's been a while.

Life threw me a couple curve balls this spring - one being a serious health issue which I could no longer deny.

In an effort to put my priorities in order, I've had to cancel the publication of the 2008 edition of Breast of Canada. From get go to final moment takes 10 months of focused attention and considerable physical output. There was simply no way I could manage the work required and no way to further justify the financial stress the project brings with it.

This was no easy decision.

I have posted the full six year catalogue of issues on my order page should you be interested in owning the entire collection. Click on this link to see. And I have posted a small but more detailed account of my situation here and a somewhat longer account at this link.

Calendar Girl is not sure what the future will bring for Breast of Canada - but then again, she never was. Should life reshuffle the deck and deal a more pleasing hand, there may be a rebirth. Until such luck is experienced, Calendar Girl wishes you and yours breast health.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: Blog Guelph in Top Twenty Google Ranking

Calendar Girl has been busy.

March 29, 2007
For Immediate Release
Guelph, Ontario

When you type “Guelph” into a search engine like Google or Yahoo, an astounding 8 million choices will appear.

Over the last several months, BlogGuelph.com has moved from the bottom of this enormous pile of web links to within the top twenty sites thanks to steady and prolific posting by Guelph’s empress of the blogosphere, University of Guelph alumni and local artist Sue Richards.

Blog Guelph - Great Guelph Photos and Cool Blog Links by Clever Guelphites is a photoblog hosted by local server, Barking Dog Studios. Richards posts multiple photographs on a daily basis, taken by a pool of over 70 Guelph focused shutterbugs. The images serve to highlight the obvious and not so obvious features of Guelph that people find photographic, beautiful or just plain funny. By using the blogging platform as a showcase stage these photographers get additional exposure plus a link to their own photostream on the photo hosting service Flickr.

“The Guelph Pool of photo artists are extremely talented,” reports Richards. “The variation in composition, style, subject matter and technique makes it pure pleasure for me as an on-line publisher. Everyday I have dozen’s of interesting photos to choose from.”

Currently there are over 900 Guelph images and videos, all neatly organized in the Blog Guelph archives.

Richards also adds positive, pithy comments on local news, the weather or the cities current bone of contention and provides promotion for the grassroots community.

“I offer concise and amusing information from my ‘lived in Guelph for twenty five years’ bag of tricks. I’m not trying to compete with existing on-line news services but rather compliment and expand on what already exists. I’ve always been a maven type. I collect and disseminate information,” says Richards.

The City of Guelph benefit from the blogosphere profile too. “It’s easy to forget how culturally rich and picturesque Guelph truly is. Our cultural capital is recognized by people outside of our city, but not always from within. It’s both a drawing card to our city and a vehicle for promotion,” says Richards.

“I’ve had people with plans to move here tune into Blog Guelph in advance of their relocation,” states Richards. “They seem really excited about the feel and look of the city that Blog Guelph projects. University alumni and homesick Guelphites who live away are delighted to get a serving of Guelph just by clicking their mouse.” ”

Richards started her first blog in November of 2004. Although she presently dabbles on several, Blog Guelph and My Menopause Blog keep her busy along with publishing the Breast of Canada calendar.

To add more value to the Blog Guelph experience, Richards profile’s other Guelph bloggers with a live link list called a blogroll. Of the over forty five blogs Richards links to, University of Guelph President Alastair Summerlee, SYNNEX CEO and new owner of Imperial Tobacco, Jim Estill, cartoonist Garth Lind and Liberal candidate hopeful Marva Wisdom are among the blogger plus several artists, real estate agents, musicians, tech heads, politicians, small business owners and her neighbour Randy Sutherland. The Guelph Mercury is in on the bloggy game too with four staff written blogs.

“I’m told there are over 55 million blogs worldwide. It stands to reason that Guelph would have a few,” says Richards.

Blog Guelph’s web traffic report climbs daily. Since installing the stat counter program in late July, Blog Guelph has played host to 15,000 unique visitors and 30,000 visits. The GeoVisitor counter indicates that visitors arrive from all over the world and draw a steady regional crowd too.

Blog Guelph accepts voluntary subscribers and pay per view banner style advertisements. Rates depend on volume of traffic and are available upon request. “If you advertise on Blog Guelph, you also get the advantage of my incessant networking,” says Richards.

“And, people tell me they ‘LOVE’ Blog Guelph,” concludes Richards.

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