 |
|
Juleen
Jaeger, Joan Hintz, Telva Szymborski and Diane Baranowski
assembled a cancer quilt.
|
Inspiration comes in many forms. For a
group of breast cancer survivors it’s gathering around a quilt.
Several quilters from the area were inspired to create the Patches of
Hope quilt which breast cancer patients and survivors can claim for
their inspiration. The quilt hangs in the foyer of the Vince Lombardi
Cancer Center’s entrance at St. Luke’s Medical Center.
New Berlin resident Juleen Jaeger, a
breast cancer survivor, coordinated the quilt project. Diane
Baranowski and three other breast cancer survivors, Judy Hurtienne,
Telva Szymborski and Joan Hintz, none of whom had ever met before the
project, ably assisted Jaeger in assembling and quilting the finished
piece.
The quilters met at the Quilting Bee, a
Greendale quilt shop. The store’s owner, Carolyn Murray, allowed
Jaeger to put out the call for squares and quilters in the store’s
newsletter. In all, 46 women contributed squares.
"Five of us, complete strangers to
each other, met and glommed on to each other like a magnet," adds
Baranowski.
Jaeger credits her oncology surgeon,
Dr. Judy Tjoe, with planting the seed. "When I saw Dr. Tjoe for
my first annual checkup, she asked me if I’d be interested in
working on a breast cancer survivor quilt," explains Jaeger.
Not hearing from anyone after the
visit, she assumed someone else had completed it. Later Jaeger
discovered that the project was stalled. "I agonized and debated
about my ability to coordinate a project like this," she says.
"A friend finally convinced me that I should call Dr. Tjoe and
offer my services."
The quilt includes the names of 177
women and men whose lives have been changed by breast cancer.
|
