The Life Quilt for Breast Cancer

The Origin of The Life Quilt for Breast Cancer

The Power of an Inspiration

by Shelora Fitzgerald

In 1991, abandoned by her husband, 33-year-old Judy Reimer found herself alone, with metastasized breast cancer and two children less than three years old to care for, one of them autistic.

After a double mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy, she realized she could no longer work as a psychiatric nurse, and called me for career counseling.

During our first phone conversation in May of 1993, she told me she wanted to leave a legacy for her children, “something more than a memory of me with my head over the toilet.” We scheduled a meeting and I asked her to do some work in preparation.

After two attempts to meet, which she had to reschedule due to overwhelming pain, Judy finally made it to my office with the assistance of morphine. She was modest, well dressed, soft spoken, completely sincere, and radiant with a quiet wisdom.

I was pleased to see that she had done her assignment. Judy answered my questions about her life, her passions, and her dreams in a matter of fact way. She talked about how quilting had been her salvation while she had been in hospital.

She told me she had often used the ruse of saying that she needed to finish the square she was working on before she went for another painful test or procedure. The nurses always respected her desire to complete her small task. In her quiet but firm way she made it clear she was going on her own terms and in her own time.

Judy made it easy to talk about her death and what it meant to her. She told me she was painting a tree growing up the wall over her toilet in her two-bedroom basement apartment. “I don’t care if they like it or not! They’re taking me out of there in a box,” she told me wryly. “They can darn well paint it over after I’m gone!”

There was such a glint of triumph in her eye as she relished these small victories. Her courage, honesty and humility shone through clearly.

In that office we became divinely guided co-conspirators against death. As she described the defiant tree growing up her wall, I was inspired with a vision of her destiny to create what I called the Tree of Life Quilt for Breast Cancer (later shortened to The Life Quilt for Breast Cancer.)

I held back from saying what I had seen, hoping she would find it herself. But sometimes we cannot see what is most obvious about ourselves.

After twenty minutes I could hold back no more, and told her what I had seen. I said that she would probably be on the front page of the Vancouver Sun and on the Vicki Gabareau show (Canada’s Oprah) within six months. Along with the quilt, both these things happened as well.

When she heard what I saw in store for her, Judy was genuinely taken aback. She said, “I think you have me mixed up with somebody else. I’m just a humble ordinary person!”

But I persisted. After all, my greatest joy is inspiring people to live their dreams, even dreams they may not have recognized yet! I felt privileged to hold up the mirror for this great spirit and show her her destiny.

“But I can’t do this all by myself,” she finally said, surrendering to the call. “How do I do it?”

I said that simply from meeting her it was clear she was much loved and had many friends just waiting to hear how they could support her. I suggested she invite them to an evening at my house, tell them what she wanted to create, and ask them to join with her in making it real.

So in May of 1993 Judy and forty of her closest friends feasted on incredibly delicious offerings they brought and shared, then launched the Life Quilt for Breast Cancer, as it became known, at a Dream Night in my living room.

The evening was documented for television. I was so sure this project would fly that I called another of my clients whose dream was to “make movies about the stories of ordinary heroes.” I told her to get herself a TV camera because this was going to be the beginning of an amazing story. She did, and it was.

When Judy stood up to speak she was on fire, irresistible. Not only was she on fire, she saw the experience of getting breast cancer as similar to being struck by a forest fire, and she wanted three panels showing that process.

She could see the quilt in her mind’s eye. An artist friend would paint the panels, then the smaller squares would be added. But the most important thing to Judy was that this quilt raise funds for those living with Breast Cancer, not for a cure.

Her vision inspired us all and carried her beyond what was humanly possible. Uplifted by her soul’s purpose to help other women living with breast cancer, Judy lived an incredible nine more years after the founding of the Life Quilt, even with cancer throughout her body and in constant pain.

As a result of that inspiring evening, the magnificent Life Quilt for Breast Cancer was created and traveled across Canada and back. It was stitched on by over 20,000 women and men, was displayed in hundreds of art galleries, and finally was exhibited at Vancouver City Hall.

The project resulted in the Life Quilt for Breast Cancer Society, which today raises funds to support women living with breast cancer and carries her dream forward.

Within six months she was on the front page of the Vancouver Sun. In that same time I introduced Judy and the Life Quilt to Vicky Gabereau, and she was interviewed on national TV.

With heroic strength and firmness of purpose, and with the support of her friends, Judy left a lasting legacy, a testament to the power of a dream. She died in October of 2002, and today her friends are working to have Judy Reimer awarded the Order of Canada.

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Shelora Fitzgerald has an M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology and maintains a private practice, helping people heal from past and present conditions, and find and live their dreams. She consults by phone and in person with people across Canada and the US. She can be reached through www.Shelora.com.

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